5?  PRINCETON,     N.     J.  <f> 


BL  181  .B36  1880 
Bascom,  John,  1827-1911 
Natural  theology 


Shelf. 


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jrL7^i 


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BY    THE    SAM]-.    AUTHOR. 


I.  The    Philosophy   of   English    Literature.        Lectures 
delivered  before  the  Lowell  Institute,  Boston.    121110,  cloth,  $  1 .75 

II.  The  Principles  of  Psychology.     121110,  cloth.   .    .     .     1.75 

III.  Comparative  Psychology;  or,  the  Growth  and  Grades 

of  Intelligence.      121110, 1  -  75 

IV.  Science,   Philosophy  and  Religion.     121110,  cloth,  1.75 

V.  The  Philosophy  of  Religion  ;  or,  the  Rational  Grounds 

of  Religious  Belief.      121110,  cloth. .1.75 

VI.  The  Principles  of   Ethics.     121110,  cloth,  .      1.75 
VII. The  Principles  of    Natural    Theology.     121110,  cloth,   1.75 

G.    P.   PUTNAM'S  SONS.    New  York. 


Natural    Theology 


bv 


JOHN'BASCOM 

AUTHOR   OF    SCIENCE  OF  MIND,    ETHICS,    PHILOSOPHY   OF    RELIGION. 


NEW   YORK 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS, 

182   FIFTH   AVENUE 
l88o 


COPYRIGHT    BY 

P.   PUTNAM'S  SONS 

1880 


JOT 


-   • 


PREFACE. 


The  field  of  knowledge  is  boundless.  The  hu- 
man mind,  in  pursuing  one  portion  of  it,  is  not 
merely  tempted  to  neglect  other  portions,  but  it  is 
often  led  to  pervert  and  to  despise  them.  The  rul- 
ing conceptions  of  the  time  are  regarded  as  supreme 
principles,  the  prevalent  methods  as  the  only  fitting 
methods  of  inquiry,  while  knowledge  is  narrowed 
down  to  suit  the  attainments  of  those  who  are  pur- 
suing it.  Thus  the  word  science  in  our  time  is  in- 
terpreted by  the  results  reached  in  researches  among 
the  simpler  forms  of  physical  forces.  And  any  de- 
partment of  thought  which,  from  its  complexity  and 
obscurity,  does  not  admit  of  this  succinct  and  exact 
statement,  is  disparaged  as  either  incapable  in  itself, 
or  incapable  through  the  methods  employed  in  it, 
of  scientific  discussion. 

Without  falling  into  the  opposite  error  of  under- 
valuing science,  we  must  still  insist  that  the  larger 
and  more  interesting  share  of  the  questions  which 
pertain  to  human  life,  above  all  to  spiritual  human 
life,  are  too  comprehensive  in  the  elements  that  en- 
ter into  them,  too  full  in  the  results  that  flow  from 


IV  PREFACE. 

them,  to  admit  that  limited  view  which  always  ac- 
companies exact  conclusions.  It  is  certainly  a 
strange  habit  of  thought,  begotten  of  close  obser- 
vation in  a  restricted  field,  which  inclines  us  to  dis- 
parage a  topic  because  so  many  and  so  subtile  lines 
of  connection  cross  each  other  in  it,  or  to  refuse  to 
pursue  it,  till  we  have  rudely  cast  away  most  of  its 
peculiarities,  and  laid  bare  a  few  bones  and  a  few 
tendons  as  the  whole  substance  of  its  living  self. 

Natural  Theology  is  an  inquiry  which  must  gather 
the  premises  and  the  illustrations  of  its  arguments 
from  all  quarters,  and  must  submit  them  at  the  very 
moment  of  interpretation  and  application  to  slight 
and  to  large  modifications,  as  held  under  the  su- 
preme insight  of  the  reason.  The  conclusions  to  be 
reached  are  of  the  most  extended  character,  and  are 
not  of  the  exact  form  of  the  data  from  which  they 
spring.  Its  deductions  are  the  last  deductions  which 
the  mind  brings  to  embrace  fully  and  to  explain 
finally  all  previous  work.  The  argument  cannot  be 
one,  therefore,  of  details  merely,  but  must  urge  the 
mind  forward  to  its  most  comprehensive  grasp.  If 
we  have  dealt  hitherto  with  physical  inquiries,  and 
insist  on  the  short,  earth-planted  steps  of  the  old 
path,  we  can  do  nothing  in  the  new  search.  We 
must  mount ;  we  must  allow  the  parts  to  be  swal- 
lowed up  in  the  whole  ;  we  must  take  a  bird's-eye 
view  ;  we  must  observe  relations  not  as  they  lie  be- 
tween single  things,  but  as  they  embrace  all  things. 

We  cannot  do  a  work  of  this  sort  too  often  if  we 
do  it  at  all  well.  The  view  from  a  mountain  sum- 
mit,  though  many  times  repeated,  never  loses  its  in- 


PREFACE.  V 

spiration.  Its  extension  is  so  much  beyond  that 
natural  to  the  mind  that  the  mind  each  time  feels 
afresh  its  enlargement,  and  takes  in  expansively  its 
grand  measurements.  Natural  Theology  holds  in 
survey  the  physical  and  spiritual  worlds  ;  and  when 
these  sink  below  the  horizon,  or  are  forgotten  in  the 
day,  or  are  hidden  in  the  night,  the  spiritual  impulse 
which  carries  us  over  to  these  broad  convictions  is 
lost.  If  any  should  say  that  these  truths  are  thereby 
shown  to  be  illusions,  we  answer,  not  so ;  they  are 
simply  too  far-reaching  to  be  grasped  and  held  by  a 
torpid  mind,  as  the  sublimity  of  the  sublime  object 
can  enter  only  amid  lively  thoughts  and  alert  sensi- 
bilities. All  progress  in  human  experience  leads  us 
to  a  better  outlook  of  these  final  relations,  and  each 
view  exalts  that  experience.  So  one  penetrating  a 
mountain  range  more  clearly  apprehends  its  great- 
ness, and  the  breadth  of  the  lands  it  holds  apart  on 
either  side. 

Not  only  does  ordinary  progress  require  this  fre- 
quent vivincation  of  great  truths  ;  the  developments 
of  science  have  materially  affected  the  data  of  Natu- 
ral Theology,  and  must  be  allowed  freely  to  modify 
its  conceptions  and  to  shape  its  forms  of  proof.  Our 
position  is  higher,  and  things  near  and  remote  must 
be  foreshortened  to  suit  it.  If  we  put  the  new  wine 
in  the  old  bottles,  the  bottles  are  broken  and  the 
wine  is  spilt. 

Incident  to  this  great  change  in  the  intellectual 
view,  many  new  doubts  have  sprung  up,  many  new 
attacks  have  been  made,  and  many  inadequate  an- 
swers have  been  given.      We  ought,  therefore,  to 


VI  PREFACE. 

strive  after  renewed  adjustments  of  thought  in  these 
more  difficult  fields  of  inquiry,  even  though  our 
conclusions  may  in  their  precise  form  scarcely  last 
out  our  own  day.  The  blessings  of  each  day  must 
be  made,  if  possible,  sufficient  unto  it,  and  we  shall 
hardly  reach  those  of  to-morrow  unless  we  have  ap- 
propriated those  of  the  passing  hour.  Our  land- 
scape is  before  us  with  its  sunshine  and  its  shadow, 
and  we  should  enter  deeply  into  its  lessons. 

One  cannot  write  well  on  Natural  Theology  and 
undertake  his  task  mechanically.  He  cannot  make 
each  day  a  day's  march,  and  so  reach  the  journey's 
end.  Every  step  is  in  a  contested  territory.  It  is 
contended  for  on  the  one  side  by  instinctive  fears 
and  aversions,  by  narrow  but  close-knit  arguments, 
and  the  whole  army  of  prudential  sentiments.  It 
is  held  on  the  other  side  by  hope  and  aspiration,  by 
the  insight  of  large  thought,  and  by  those  emotions 
which  spring  up  as  retainers  of  the  moral  nature. 
Every  step,  therefore,  must  be  taken  with  courage, 
and  firmly  held  with  a  loyalty  to  all  that  is  highest 
within  us  and  brightest  before  us. 

We  have  one  help.  We  may  pursue  this  path 
in  the  profoundest  sympathy  with  the  obscure 
and  the  clear  convictions  of  many  of  the  strong 
minds  and  strongest  hearts  that  have  preceded 
us.  We  may  not  be  able  to  say  why  it  is  that 
men  eminent  in  science,  pure  in  life,  governed 
even  by  philanthropy,  have  taken  the  attitude  of 
distrust  and  denial,  but  we  do  know  why  a  Zoro- 
aster, a  Socrates,  a  Plato,  a  Paul,  have  cherished  a 
belief  of  the  largest  scope.      It  has  been  fed  by  the 


PREFACE.  Vll 

inner  fires  of  a  pure  spirit.  In  treating  reverently 
and  searching  profoundly  and  answering  hopefully 
these  inquiries,  we  draw  near  to  those  in  all  time 
whose  life  has  been  the  largest,  and  whose  vision 
has  come  to  them  by  an  ascent  heavenward  of  their 
own  spirits. 


We  should  not  think  it  wise  to  offer  another  work 
on  Natural  Theology  simply  as  a  renewed  presen- 
tation of  the  ingenious  constructions  of  the  world. 
This  work  has  already  been  admirably  done  ;  and 
science  in  a  hundred  ways  has  reached  the  same  re- 
sult The  prevalence  of  law  and  its  many  fortunate 
products  are  the  staple  facts  of  our  time.  In  pre- 
senting the  proof  for  the  being  of  God,  we  have  no 
longer  to  discuss  results,  but  the  methods  rather  by 
which  these  results  have  been  reached.  It  is  because 
of  this  new  form  in  the  theistic  argument,  that  we 
wish  to  give  it  one  more  reconstruction.  The  oppo- 
sition has  changed  front,  and  so  renders  a  corres- 
ponding change  necessary  on  the  part  of  the  de- 
fense. 

This  shifting  of  the  conflict  has  attended  on  a 
great  increase  of  knowledge,  and  new  views  of  the 
methods  of  development  in  the  physical  world.  We 
wish  to  recognize  most  fully  the  value  of  these 
attainments,  and  to  see  clearly  their  relation  to 
theism.  We  are  quite  prepared  to  accept  evolution 
— the  present,  intellectual  solvent  of  physical  prob- 
lems,— in  all  the  facts  it  offers,  while  we  are  still  at 
liberty  to  give  those  facts  the  interpretation  which 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

is  most  in  keeping  with  the  two  kingdoms,  physical 
and  spiritual,  which  make  up  the  universe  in  its 
outer  form  and  inner  force. 

It  is  exactly  here  that  we  hope  to  add  something 
to  the  work  of  our  predecessors,  (i)  in  a  more  com- 
plete recognition  of  all  the  results  of  scientific  in- 
quiry, (2)  and  in  pointing  out  the  relation  of  these 
facts  to  an  intellectual  exposition  of  the  universe. 
To  have  done  even  a  little  in  this  direction  is  an 
ample  justification  of  a  laborious  effort. 

We  shall  give  in  our  argument  comparatively  few 
illustrations  of  apparent  design,  because  these  are 
now  so  abundant  on  all  sides,  because  none  over- 
look or  deny  their  existence,  and  because  the  logical 
form  of  the  proof  is  not  affected  by  them.  We 
aim  simply  to  open  doors  here  and  there  in  the 
several  departments  of  the  great  cabinet  of  divine 
wisdom,  in  each  case  helping  thereby  our  inquiry 
into  the  evidence  of  personal  oversight  as  contrasted 
with  unguided  law,  of  reason  and  unreason  as  the 
primitive  powers  of  the  world.  This  discussion 
thus  ceases  to  be  one  of  minute  and  multiplied  de- 
tails, and  becomes  one  of  the  most  comprehensive 
ideas.  The  question  is  :  Which  key  to  this  language 
of  the  physical  world  is  most  concurrent  with  reason, 
that  of  physical  or  of  spiritual  forms  ?  Does  our 
knowledge  stop  with  a  certain  rhythm  of  the  words 
in  the  lines,  which  they  seem  to  catch  from  each 
other,  or  are  there  depths  of  spiritual  meaning  in 
them  fully  open  to  us?  This  is  more  than  a  scien- 
tific inquiry,  it  is  in  the  highest  sense  a  rational  one, 
one  to  which  all  the  resources  of  our  nature  must 


PREFACE.  IX 

be  brought.  The  question  is  in  itself  ultimate,  and 
can  not  be  answered  save  in  view  of  all  forms  and 
all  conditions  of  knowledge.  The  problem  has  been 
searched  many  times,  and  will  be  searched  many 
times  more,  with  some  gain,  we  may  believe,  each 
time  in  reference  to  the  final  solution. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

§1.   Subjects  discussed  in  Natural  Theology 
§2.   Methods  of  proof  employed 

CHAPTER  I. 

NATURE    OF    GOD. 

§1.   A  sufficient  idea  of  this  nature  attainable 
§2.   A  positive  idea  attainable 
§3.  A  consistent  idea  attainable 
§4.  What  that  idea  is 


§1. 

§2- 
§3- 


BEING    OF    GOD 

Mistaken  appeals 
Deductive   proof 
Inductive  proof 


CHAPTER  II. 

UNSATISFACTORY    FORMS    OF    PROOF. 


PACK 

I 

2 


28 

35 
39 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   ARGUMENT   IN    OUTLINE    FOR    THE   BEING  OF  GOD. 

§1.   The  feeling  appropriate  to  the  argument             .  .              46 

§2.   Indestructibility  and  eternity  of  matter         .              .  .43 

§3.   Definitions  ;  life  and  causation                .              .  .              51 

§4.  Consciousness  and  causation             .              .              .  .55 

§5.   Laws  of  thought  and   causation             .              .  .              5 3 

§6.   Relation  of  the  argument  to  experience      .              .  .64 

§7.   Interpretation  of  the  world  by  mind  72 

§8.   Simplicity  and  directness  of  the    argument             .  .       75 

§9.   One  of  general  principles,  not  of  specific  examples  .             77 

xi 


Xll 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PROOF    OF  THE  BEING  OF    GOD    FOUND  IN    THE    ORGANIC  WORLD. 


§  I.  Proof  as  affected  by  the  eternity  of  matter 

§  2.  Precedence  of  mind  in  reference  to  matter 

§  3.  Shown  in  resemblance  ;  in  causation 

§  4.  In  number  ;    molecules 

§  5.  Specific  heat  ;  classes  in    elements 

§  6.  Crystals  ;  organic    world 

§  7.  Matter,  its  powers  and  proportions 

§  8.  Matter  and  energy  as  indestructible 

§  9.  Matter  and  energy  as  eternal 

§10.  Affinities  of  elements     . 

§11.  Affinities  as  affected  by  temperature 

§12.  The  atmosphere  and  its  relations 

CHAPTER  V. 


r      .      -79 

r         .      82 

.   84 

87 

•   93 

94 

.   93 

101 

.  102 

106 

.  113 

114 

PROOF  OF  THE  BEING  OF  GOD    FOUND    IN  THE   VEGETABLE    KINGDOM. 

§1.   Force  of  the  argument  so  far  .  .  .  .122 

125 


§2.   Argument  as  affected  by  evolution 


is 

§4. 

§5. 

§6. 
§7- 


Causes  active  in  evolution 

Evolution  with  increments 

Increase  of  powers  in  the  vegetable  kingdom 

Intellectual  ideas  in  the  vegetable  kingdom 

Beauty  in  the  vegetable  kingdom 


130 

145 
148 
151 
156 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PROOF  OF  THE  BEING  OF  GOD  FOUND  IN  THE  ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 


§1.   Nature  of  life       . 

§2.   Law  and  reason 

§3.   Freedom  of  organic  action  in  animals 

§4.   Symmetry  and  beauty  in  animals     . 

§5.    Special  examples  of   adaptation  ;   camel 


159 
169 
172 
1S0 
1S5 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PROOF  OF  THE  BEING  OF  GOD  FOUND  IN  THE  RATIONAL  KINGDOM. 

§  I.   Proof  as  dependent  on   philosophy  ,  .  .      190 

§  2.   Organic  development     .....  195 


CONTENTS, 


§  3- 
§4- 
§5- 
§  6. 


§9- 
§io. 


Intellectual  development     . 
Spiritual   development 
Spiritual  development 
Degeneration  in  religion 
Religion  and  the  supernatural 
Miracles 
Final  causes 
Philosophy  of  history     . 


Xlll 

PAGE. 
205 

209 

214 

221 

227 

237 
246 
25O 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   PROOFS  OF  THE  GOODNESS  OF  GOD. 

§1.   Proof  of  the  being  of  God  as   affected   by  his  goodness 
§2.   Proof  of  his  goodness       ..... 
§3.  Objections  to  his  goodness  ;  suffering 
§4.   Inheritance  of  evil  ;  carnivora     .... 


261 
270 

275 

283 


CHAPTER  IX. 

IMMORTALITY. 

§1.   Relation  of  immortality  to  Natural  Theology 
§2.  Proofs  of  immortality  from   man's  constitution 
§3.   Proofs  from  the  character  of  God     . 


288 
290 
298 


INTRODUCTION. 

§  i.  Natural  Theology  treats  of  the  nature,  being, 
attributes  and  government  of  God  as  disclosed  to 
us  in  the  physical  and  spiritual  universe.  An  in- 
quiry into  the  being  of  God  is  properly  opened  by 
an  inquiry  into  his  nature,  that  is  into  the  general 
form  of  the  being  we  ascribe  to  him.  If  there  is 
anything,  or  is  even  thought  to  be  anything,  either 
peculiarly  difficult  or  absurd  in  the  conception  itself, 
we  are  not  prepared,  till  we  have  weighed  the  objec- 
tion, to  proceed  with  the  proof.  It  is  useless  to 
undertake  impossibilities ;  to  try  to  establish  by 
reason  an  irrational  conclusion.  Our  first  task, 
therefore,  is  to  exclude  vagueness,  inadequacy  and 
contradiction  from  the  conception  itself  of  the  na- 
ture of  God.  We  shall  then  be  ready  for  a  proof 
of  his  being.  This  established  we  may  discuss  in 
detail  his  attributes,  and  point  out  the  methods  of 
his  government. 

There  is  one  other  topic,  which  though  not  directly 
covered  by  Natural  Theology,  is  yet  very  essential 
to  it,  the  immortality  of  man.  If  man  is  not  im- 
mortal, (i)  these  theistic  truths  will  have  compara- 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

tively  little  interest  for  him.  His  portion  in  them 
will  be  greatly  reduced.  (2)  The  two  doctrines  of 
the  divine  existence  and  of  man's  immortality  are 
associated  in  the  most  intimate  way.  We  shall 
not  be  able  to  establish  the  second  without  the 
first;  and  yet  the  first  in  its  proof  has  great  occa- 
sion for  the  second.  They  only  enter  the  mind 
together.  If  man  is  not  immortal,  the  moral  prob- 
lem of  the  world  becomes  so  insoluble  as  to  bring 
darkness  to  the  attributes  of  God,  and  doubt  to  his 
very  being.  If  the  two  are  not  strict  correlatives, 
they  practically  hold  this  relation.  (3)  The  govern- 
ment of  God  especially  can  not  be  wisely  discussed 
without  first  settling  this  question  of  immortality. 
Without  immortality  God's  moral  government  is  of 
a  very  fragmentary  character.  (4)  The  form  of  the 
proof  and  its  spirit  are  identical  in  the  two  doc- 
trines. (5)  Religion  always  assumes  them  both,  and 
puts  them  on  the  same  basis  as  first  principles.  We, 
therefore,  add  the  topic  of  immortality  to  the  four 
topics  embraced  in  Natural  Theology.  The  discus- 
sion in  order  to  be  either  clear  or  complete  must 
crave  this  freedom. 

§  2.  The  methods  of  proof  involved  in  Natural 
Theology  are  of  a  very  comprehensive,  subtile  and 
somewhat  unusual  character.  They  will,  therefore, 
have  very  different  force  for  different  minds.  These 
proofs  are  not  the  product  of  a  plain  deductive 
process,  nor  yet  of  a  simple,  inductive  one.  They 
are  not  altogether  analogous  to  those  of  logic  or 
mathematics  or  science.  Much  effort  has  been  ex- 
pended to  hit  on  a  single,  sufficient  deductive  proof, 


SUBJECTS    OF    NATURAL    THEOLOGY.  3 

but  without  success.  The  feeling  which  prompted 
the  undertaking  was  a  mistaken  one,  and  the  failure 
has  served  still  further  to  embarrass  and  obscure  the 
question.  The  broadest  truths  cannot  be  the  im- 
mediate product  of  the  narrowest  method,  nor  are 
these  proofs  of  the  divine  being  presented  to  the 
senses,  nor  are  they  directly  involved  in  the  relation 
of  sensible  things  to  each  other.  A  merely  empirical 
philosophy  can  give  us  no  aid.  Such  a  philosophy 
can  walk  up  and  down  among  physical  facts ;  it  can- 
not rise  wholly  above  them.  It  can  explain  the 
products  of  a  continent  when  it  is  discovered ;  it  can 
make  no  voyages  in  search  of  new  ones.  The  ar- 
gument for  the  being  of  God  is  one  of  comprehen- 
sive and  searching  interpretation  ;  it  is  the  spiritual 
exegesis  of  the  universe,  and  must  find  its  spirit  and 
power  in  the  insight  of  the  exegete.  In  these  latest 
and  largest  arguments — which  are  also  the  earliest — 
there  is  no  escape  from  personal  quality. 

The  proof  of  the  being  of  God  has  both  intuitive 
and  empirical  elements,  both  deductive  and  induc- 
tive steps,  both  emotional  and  intellectual  force.  If 
one  is  disposed  to  disparage  any  knowledge  or  any 
experience  or  any  kind  of  argument,  he  will,  in  the 
discussion  of  these  most  searching  questions,  be 
correspondingly  partial  and  obscure  in  his  conclu- 
sions. 

The  feature  of  most  peculiar  interest  in  this  proof 
is  the  extent  to  which  the  emotions  enter  into  it. 
The  feelings  are  usually  thought  to  endanger  and 
distort  argument.  Here  is  an  argument  that  can  be 
carried  to  no  successful  issue  without  them.     Its 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

premises  are  emotional,  its  conclusions  are  emo- 
tional. In  this  respect  it  is  allied  to  historical  criti- 
cism and  social  science.  We  cannot  reason  from 
man  to  man,  from  man  to  society,  from  one  phase 
of  society  to  another,  without  understanding  man's 
nature,  and  recognizing  the  fact  that  feelings  are 
quite  as  potent  with  hiii'i  as  thoughts.  Neither  can 
we  reason  from  the  spiritual  universe  as  expressed 
to  us  in  man  to  its  spiritual  source  without  enter- 
ing profoundly  into  its  most  distinctive  feature,  to 
wit,  its  high  and  far-reaching  emotions.  The  per- 
sonal manifestations  of  God  in  the  world  are  as 
clearly  emotional  as  they  are  intellectual.  And  we 
cannot  be  dead  to  them  in  the  one  respect  and 
awake  to  them  in  the  other.  We  cannot  discuss 
music  as  a  fine  art  without  an  appreciation  of  har- 
mony, nor  can  we  understand  the  character  of  God, 
the  proofs  of  his  being,  without  a  living  perception 
of  the  spiritual  relations  in  which  the  divine  attri- 
butes are  disclosed.  If  God  is  love,  he  must  be 
known  as  love,  he  must  be  felt  as  love.  The  light 
of  the  sun's  rays  does  not  discover  to  us  their  heat  • 
this  is  an  additional  sensation.  To  enter  the  realm 
of  the  spiritual  activities,  combining  as  they  do  light 
and  heat,  is  not  the  simplest  but  the  most  complex 
effort  of  our  powers. 

The  feelings  of  men  have  gotten  hold  of  this  truth 
of  the  Divine  Being  sooner  than  their  thoughts. 
Hence  it  has  happened  that  when  scepticism  has 
arisen,  the  tender  plants  of  faith  have  been  at  once 
nipped  by  the  northern  breath.  The  feelings  them- 
selves,  partial   and   feeble,   could  not  justify  them- 


METHODS    OF    PROOF.  5 

selves,  and  seemed  to  bear  the  aspect  in  their  per- 
verted forms  of  half  groveling  instincts.  The 
thoughts,  in  the  meantime,  had  nothing  distinctly 
to  offer  us.  We  can  return  again  to  sufficient  belief 
on  this  subject — to  the  truth — only  by  strengthened 
thought  and  purified  feeling.  Having  once  miscar- 
ried by  the  feelings,  we  are  liable  to  miscarry  a  sec- 
ond time  by  the  thoughts,  before  we  shall  be  able 
to  combine  the  two  in  a  comprehensive  grasp  of  the 
truth. 

The  attitude  of  the  mind  finally  reached  in  this 
field  is  fittingly  expressed  by  the  word  faith.  Faith 
is  emotional  vision.  It  is  directed  toward  persons 
and  personal  truths.  It  sees  the  facts  and  compre- 
hends their  power  through  the  personal  elements  that 
lie  back  of  them.  It  is  quick  to  discover  spirit,  and 
bold  to  trust  itself  to  the  righteous  spirit.  It  is 
not  less  than  intellect  and  vision  ;  it  is  more  ;  it  is 
the  insight  of  reason,  moved  to  its  best  exertion  by 
the  purest  affections.  The  argument  for  the  being 
of  God  sweeps  through  the  human  soul,  gathers  up 
all  its  resources,  and  bears  them  forward  into  an  all- 
embracing  conclusion.  It  is  not,  therefore,  less 
sound,  but  more  sound  ;  is  not,  therefore,  visionary, 
but  a  vision. 

The  existence  of  God,  if  it  is  true  at  all,  is  pro- 
foundly true,  and  must  modify  everywhere  and  in 
every  way  the  universe.  Our  presentation  of  the 
proof  may  be  weak  and  deficient,  but  the  proof  it- 
self, if  proof  there  be,  cannot  be  so.  It  must  bathe 
the  globe  like  light,  but  whether  we  see  it  or  not 
may  depend  on  narrow  personal  senses. 


O  INTRODUCTION. 

One  reason  why  the  argument  has  so  often  stum- 
bled has  been  that  it  has  walked  on  the  surface, 
selecting  this  and  that  as  an  indication  of  divine 
wisdom,  with  the  implication  that  most  things  show 
it  feebly  or  not  at  all.  The  proof,  if  good  at  any  time 
and  anywhere,  must  be  good  to  the  very  beginning 
and  clear  into  the  centre.  We  can  hold  nothing 
in  the  outskirts  if  we  have  lost  the  heart  of  the 
kingdom. 

It  is  for  this  reason  especially  that  the  whole  argu- 
ment needs  reconstruction,  that  we  may  see  afresh 
how  the  procession  of  things  comes  forth  from  the 
gates  of  time  and  the  thought  of  God. 


CHAPTER   I. 

NATURE     O  F     GOD. 

§  I.  By  the  nature  of  God,  as  distinguished  from 
the  attributes  of  God,  we  mean  generic  forms  as  op- 
posed to  specific  qualities,  general  conditions  as 
contrasted  with  the  peculiar  qualities  which  come 
under  those  conditions.  Thus  God  is  spoken  of  as  a 
spirit,  infinite,  eternal  and  unchangeable.  If  the  as- 
sertion be  true,  it  gives  us  his  essential  nature,  but 
leaves  us  to  inquire  into  his  particular  attributes. 
Any  discussion  of  these  attributes  should  be  pre- 
ceded by  one  of  the  nature  of  God ;  unless  we  are 
prepared  to  assume  that  nature  as  something  ac- 
knowledgedly  rational. 

But  the  intelligibility  and  sufficiency  of  any  no- 
tion of  the  nature  of  God  are  now  denied  with  pe- 
culiar earnestness.  Some  regard  the  conception  as 
illusory,  being  beyond  the  range  of  knowledge ; 
some  esteem  it  a  mere  negation,  and  others  as  made 
up  of  contradictory  terms.  If  any  one  of  these 
opinions  is  true,  a  discussion  of  the  being  and  attri- 
butes of  God  is  time  thrown  away.  A  concep- 
tion which  is  an  unintelligible  symbol,  or  is  purely 
negative,  or  is  self-contradictory,  can  not  be  made 
7 


O  NATURE    OF    GOD. 

the  subject  of  proof  as  to  reality,  or  of  exposition 
as  to  quality. 

Our  first  question  then  is,  Whether  a  conception 
of  the  nature  of  God  sufficiently  real  and  rational 
to  be  the  subject  of  thought  is  attainable?  It  is 
worthy  of  remark  in  passing,  that  our  adversaries 
find  somewhere  in  their  thoughts  a  conception  suf- 
ficiently clear  to  be  made  the  subject  of  very  ex- 
tended discussion  and  denial ;  we  have,  therefore, 
in  the  light  of  their  example,  no  reason  to  despair 
of  finding  one  substantial  enough  for  the  more  liv- 
ing processes  of  thought — those  of  affirmation.  Our 
inquiry  is  not  whether  a  complete  conception  of  the 
nature  of  God  can  be  reached  ;  but  whether  one 
sufficiently  intelligible  and  self-consistent  to  be  the 
subject  of  safe  reasoning  is  open  to  us.  We  can 
bring  no  imagery,  no  comparison,  and  very  little 
expository  thought  to  the  forms  of  being  given  by 
our  own  spirits ;  yet  the  word  spirit  is  a  very  secure 
factor  in  thought  in  spite  of  all  that.  That  God  is 
a  spiritual  being,  infinite  and  absolute,  we  regard 
as  an  assertion  clear  and  rational  enough  for  the 
purposes  of  safe  inquiry :  we  can  see  by  means  of 
it  as  easily  as  by  the  light  of  the  sun,  though  both 
may  strain  and  weary  the  eye  when  turned  too  di- 
rectly and  too  long  upon  them. 

Is  the  conception  beyond  our  knowledge?  If  it 
is  strictly  so,  then  it  must  wholly  disappear,  as  the 
mind  has  in  it  no  real  content.  The  affirmative 
finds  support  in  Mr.  Spencer.  The  discussion  is 
found  in  the  first  part  of  his  First  Principles.  It 
is  also  repeated  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Cosmic 


A    SUFFICIENT    IDEA.  9 

Philosophy.  These  objections  are  presented  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  nature  of  God,  that  we  can  form 
no  conception  of  the  infinite,  that  all  our  knowledge 
is  classification,  and  that  it  is  all  relative. 

The  inconceivability  of  the  infinite  may  mean 
one  or  other  of  two  things ;  either  that  we  can  con- 
struct in  the  imagination,  in  a  phenomenal  form,  no 
image  of  God  ;  or  that  any  statement  of  the  nature 
of  his  being  involves  logical  contradictions.  In  the 
first  meaning,  the  objection  has  no  force.  The  life 
of  the  Infinite  cannot  of  course  reappear  in  the  im- 
agination, since  it  has  never  come  within  the  range 
of  our  experience.  The  second  meaning,  of  an 
irreconcilable  conception,  Mr.  Spencer  illustrates 
and  supports  by  extended  quotations  from  Mr. 
Mansel.  As  Mr.  Mansel's  opinion  demands  separ- 
ate consideration,  and  as  Mr.  Spencer  adds  nothing 
to  it,  we  shall  meet  this  difficulty  *a  little  later. 

The  second  objection,  that  all  knowing  is  classify- 
ing, is  incident  to  a  philosophy  far  too  narrow  for 
the  facts  of  mind.  It  excludes  not  only  the  infinite, 
but  all  ultimate  ideas  and  all  primitive  sensations 
and  perceptions  as  well.  Classification  is  a  second- 
ary act,  and  can  only  be  applied  to  material  by 
means  of  ideas,  both  being  arrived  at  in  some  other 
way.  Some  form  of  intuitive  action  must  precede 
every  form  of  reflective  action. 

"As  we  find  by  analyzing  it,  and  as  we  see  it  ob- 
jectively displayed  in  every  proposition,  a  thought 
involves  relation,  difference,  likeness.  Whatever  does 
not  present  each  of  these  does  not  admit  of  cogni- 
tion, and  hence  we  may  say  that  the  Unconditioned, 


10  NATURE    OF    GOD. 

as  presenting  none  of  them,  is  trebly  unthinkable."* 
We  may  grant  this  in  reference  to  the  judgment, 
but  the  judgment  is  a  secondary  power,  whose  data 
are  always  given  to  it  in  ultimate  analysis.  To  af- 
firm that  anything  is  unknowable  because  it  is  un- 
thinkable, is  to  overlook  intuitive  knowledge,  both 
of  the  reason  and  of  the  senses.  The  results  of  a 
thinking  process  are  only  a  portion,  and  in  time  at 
least  a  secondary  portion,  of  our  knowledge.  We 
are  quite  willing  to  grant  that  the  infinite  is  not 
found  among  these  products  of  thought. 

The  objection  that  all  knowledge  is  relative  is  of 
much  the  same  nature.  If  we  were  to  grant  the  as- 
sertion, the  concession  would  cover  the  whole 
ground  of  knowledge,  and  so  exclude  fundamental 
truth  from  all  knowledge.  If  relativity  excludes 
known  truth  from  knowledge,  it  must  exclude  it 
from  the  knowledge  of  the  finite  as  well  as  from  that 
of  the  infinite.  If  the  relativity  of  knowledge  is 
not  destructive  of  all  knowledge,  we  must  be  further 
shown  why  it  is  destructive  of  that  of  the  infinite 
and  not  also  of  that  of  the  finite.  If  there  is  abso- 
lutely nothing  but  a  personal  impression  in  our 
finite  knowledge,  then  that  knowledge  is  no  true 
knowledge,  and  cannot  lie  between  man  and  man. 
If  there  is  something  more  than  subjective  impres- 
sions in  current  thought,  then  there  may  easily  be 
in  our  thought  of  God. 

But  there  is  no  truth  in  the  assertion  that  knowl- 
edge is  all  relative.  Sensations  and  perceptions 
have  a  personal  physical  element  which  we   cannot 

*  First  Principles,  p.  82. 


A    SUFFICIENT    IDEA.  II 

eliminate  and  which  makes  them  partially  rela- 
tive. But  the  highest  intuitive  and  ratiocinative 
truths  yield  no  color  to  this  assertion  and  offer  a 
convincing  reason  against  it.  The  absolute  identity 
of  convictions  in  all  minds  concerning  these  truths, 
as  for  example  the  truths  of  mathematics,  is  inex- 
plicable on  the  supposition  that  they  all  contain  a 
personal,  variable  element,  are  all  relative.  The 
knowing  is  immediate  and  the  knowledge  is  abso- 
lute ;  and  this  is  shown  by  the  instant  and  complete 
identity  of  results.  Certainly  whether  we  choose 
to  call  this  knowledge  absolute  or  not,  we  can  wish 
for  none  more  absolute  concerning  God.  Knowl- 
edge of  this  type  would  answer  all  our  purposes. 
Relativity  of  knowledge  must  mean  something 
more  than  knowledge  through  a  power  in  relation 
to  it ;  it  must  mean  that  this  power  puts  some  un- 
known and  variable  element  into  knowledge  and 
so  narrows  it. 

But  we  need  not  spend  time  on  these  objections 
for  two  reasons.  (i)  They  spring  from  a  peculiar 
philosophy,  and  have  no  more  strength  than  falls  to 
it.  It  is  quite  true  that  an  empirical  philosophy 
sustained  by  the  doctrine  of  strict  evolution  fur- 
nishes no  shadow  of  proof  for  the  being  of  God.  The 
case  must  be  brought  in  another  jurisdiction,  that  of 
philosophy  proper.  This  fact  will  more  and  more 
appear  as  the  discussion  advances.  (2)  Mr.  Spencer 
himself  implicitly  abandons  his  proof  in  his  con- 
clusion. He  starts  with  the  unknown  and  reaches 
"the  Unknowable."  There  is  the  same  difference 
between  this  beginning  and  this  end  as  between  the 


12  NATURE    OF    GOD. 

assertions ;  there  may  or  may  not  be  a  continent 
in  the  Western  Ocean,  we  can  never  know  ;  there 
is  a  continent  in  the  Western  Ocean,  but  we  can- 
not reach  it.  Concerning  the  truly  unknown  we 
can  affirm  nothing,  not  even  existence.  When  Mr. 
Spencer  proceeds  to  clothe  the  unknown  in  the  per- 
sonal vestment  of  the  Unknowable,  and  to  keep  it 
henceforth  before  the  mind  as  an  essential  feature 
of  his  philosophy  and  the  point  of  reconciliation 
between  science  and  religion,  he  has  left  his  premi- 
ses quite  behind  him.  "  We  are  conscious  of  the 
relative  as  existence  under  conditions  and  limits  ; 
it  is  impossible  that  these  conditions  and  limits  be 
thought  of  apart  from  something  to  which  they 
give  the  form.  The  abstraction  of  these  condi- 
tions and  limits,  is,  by  hypothesis,  the  abstraction 
of  them  only,  consequently  there  must  be  a  residuary 
consciousness  of  something  which  filled  up  these 
outlines,  and  this  indefinite  something  constitutes 
our  consciousness  of  the  non-relative  or  absolute. 
Impossible  though  it  is  to  give  to  this  conscious- 
ness any  qualitative  or  quantitative '  expression 
whatever,  it  is  not  less  certain  that  it  remains  with 
us  as  a  positive  and  indestructible  element  of 
thought.""  The  most  remarkable  thing  about  the 
philosophy  of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  is  that  he  rarely 
has  courage  to  face  his  own  conclusions,  and  often 
puts  in  place  of  them  those  of  his  adversary.  'A 
positive  and  indestructible  element  of  thought,' 
then,  is  not  knowable.  Does  not  this  use  of  words 
so  limit  the  word  knowable  as  to  destroy   the   value 

*First  Principles,  p.  90. 


A    SUFFICIENT    IDEA.  1 3 

of  his  entire  discussion  ?  It  plainly  means  not 
completely  conceivable,  not  knowable  in  the  details 
of  form.  The  continent  is,  but  we  have  no  chart 
of  it  ;  we  not  only  may  talk  about  it  and  think 
about  it,  but  we  must  do  so.  It  is  an  indestructible 
element  of  thought.  Plainly  a  conception  so  posi- 
tive and  necessary  must  have  some  predicates  ;  it 
would  perish  instantly  without  them.  Re-assured, 
therefore,  we  will  go  forward  and  inquire  what  they 
are. 

§  2.  Another  way  in  which  the  infinite  is  set  aside 
as  a  subject  of  thought  is  by  denying  to  the  con- 
ception any  positive  character.  It  is  affirmed  to  be 
a  negative  notion  only.  The  statement  is  well 
made  by  Sir  William  Hamilton,  and  is  pronounced 
by  Mr.  Spencer  to  be  "  clear  and  conclusive." 
"  The  mind  can  conceive,  and  consequently  can 
know,  only  the  limited  and  the  conditionally  lim- 
ited. The  unconditionally  unlimited,  or  the  Infi- 
nite, the  unconditionally  limited,  or  the  Absolute 
cannot  positively  be  constructed  to  the  mind.  They 
can  be  conceived  only  by  thinking  away  from  or 
abstraction  of  those  very  conditions  under  which 
thought  itself  is  realized,  consequently  the  notion 
of  the  Unconditioned  is  only  negative — negative  of 
the  conceivable  itself.  *  *  *  We  cannot  pos- 
itively represent,  or  realize,  or  construe  to  the 
mind — as  here  understanding  and  imagination  coin- 
cide— an  infinite  whole,  for  this  could  only  be  done 
by  the  infinite  synthesis  in  thought  of  finite  wholes, 
which  would  itself  require  an  infinite  time  for  its 
accomplishment."*      This   presentation   is   open  to 

*First  Principles  p    74. 


14  NATURE    OF    GOD. 

very  obvious  objections.  The  notion  of  the  infinite 
does  not  come  to  us  as  here  indicated.  It  is  not  a 
construction  of  the  imagination.  It  would  never 
find  entrance  on  those  terms.  It  may  flash  in- 
stantly up  in  connection  with  time  or  space,  with 
little  or  no  effort  to  reproduce  their  parts  before 
the  mind. 

If  the  infinite  were  '  only  negative,'  a  mere  de- 
nial of  something — though  of  what  hardly  appears — 
it  would  be  a  simple,  manageable  conception.  It 
would  be  in  one  form  or  another  the  conception 
covered  by  the  word  nothing.  Such  an  assertion, 
rightly  made,  would  not  give  us  a  moment's  per- 
plexity. The  removal  by  the  mind  of  finite  limits 
to  space  or  time  or  power  is  not  such  a  process.  It 
is  not  negative  but  positive  in  thought  ;  is  not  de- 
structive but  constructive.  The  notion  present  in 
the  word  time  or  power  is  not  thus  denied  in  one 
way  or  another  way,  but  infinitely  magnified  in  all 
the  ways  which  belong  to  it,  and  any  particular 
denial  is  the  passing  product  of  the  broadest  affirm- 
ation. An  appeal  can  here  be  safely  made  to  each 
one's  insight.  The  notion  of  infinite  space  can  be 
as  clearly  and  positively  held  and  as  safelv  applied 
as  the  idea  of  a  cube  of  space,  each  edge  with 
the  measurement  of  a  thousand  miles.  Such  a 
block  is  not  definable  to  the  imagination.  Sir  Wil- 
liam Hamilton  is  wholly  in  the  wrong,  and  the 
wrong  is  the  source  of  the  confusion  on  this  sub- 
ject, when  he  says,  that  "  here  the  understanding 
and  the  imagination  coincide."  The  imagination 
can  do   very  little   in   the  presentation  of  any   ex- 


A  POSITIVE  IDEA.  I  5 

tended  fact,  even  though  it  be  a  phenomenal  one; 
much  less  can  it  manage  an  unphenomenal  one.  It 
can  do  little  with  the  earth's  surface  as  a  whole, 
and  very  little  with  interstellar  spaces.  Yet  the  facts 
pertaining  to  both  are  capable  of  an  intellectual  appli- 
cation, mathematically  exact.  No  rational  mind 
needs  to  blunder  in  the  use  of  such  a  notion  as  infi- 
nite space,  any  more  than  in  the  use  of  measure- 
ments in  space.  Sir  William  Hamilton,  also,  as  is 
the  wont  when  a  false  lead  is  followed,  undoes  his 
own  work  at  the  end.  "  We  are  thus  taught  the 
salutary  lesson  that  the  capacity  of  thought  is  not 
to  be  constituted  into  the  measure  of  existence, 
and  are  warned  from  recognizing  the  domain  of  our 
knowledge  as  necessarily  coextensive  with  the 
horizon  of  faith. "*  Faith  that  is  rational,  indeed 
that  is  real,  must  involve  some  measure  of  knowl- 
edge. We  cannot  have  faith  in  a  being  who  is  a 
negation,  nor  in  reference  to  a  fact  that  is  abso- 
lutely unknown  in  all  particulars  of  form,  condi- 
tion and  existence.  We  cannot  regard  the  asser- 
tion that  the  absolutely  unknown  may  exist  as  a 
very  important  or  salutary  lesson,  as  it  can  mean 
nothing  of  moment  to  us  till  we  apply  it  to  some 
particular  thing,  as  to  new  forms  of  matter,  or  to 
spirit,  or  to  a  Supreme  Spirit,  but  in  this  applica- 
tion a  known  element  at  once  enters. 

§  3.  But  the  two  views  that  the  infinite  is  un- 
knowable and  negative  in  thought  derive  whatever 
force  belongs  to  them  from  a  third  view ;  that  the 
conception   is   made  up   of  contradictory  elements. 

*Ibid,  p.  76. 


i6 


NATURE    OF    GOD. 


This  is  the  only  ground  on  which  it  can  be  abol- 
ished. If  it  were  either  unknown  or  negative  it 
would  already  be  abolished,  it  would  never  have  ap- 
peared. The  mind  cannot  be  harassed  by  things 
not  present  to  it,  or  which  it  has  distinctly  wiped 
away,  not  by  a  negation,  but  as  negations.  Mr.  Man- 
sel  has  presented  in  his  Limits  of  Religious  Thought 
fully  and  in  a  great  variety  of  ways,  the  interior 
contradictions  of  the  notion  of  the  Infinite. 

He  defines  the  First  Cause,  the  Infinite,  the  Ab- 
solute,* and  then  proceeds.  "  These  three  concep- 
tions, the  Cause,  the  Absolute,  the  Infinite,  are 
equally  indispensable  ;  do  they  not  imply  contradic- 
tions to  each  other,  when  viewed  in  conjunction  as 
attributes  of  one  and  the  same  being?  A  cause 
cannot  as  such,  be  absolute  ;  the  Absolute  cannot 
as  such,  be  a  cause.  The  cause  as  such,  exists  only 
in  relation  to  its  effect :  the  cause  is  a  cause  of  the 
effect ;  the  effect  is  an  effect  of  the  cause.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  conception  of  the  Absolute  implies 
a  possible  existence  out  of  all  relation.  We  attempt 
to  escape  from  this  apparent  contradiction,  by  in- 
troducing the  idea  of  succession  in  time.  The  Ab- 
solute exists  first  by  itself,  and  afterward  becomes 
a  cause.  But  here  we  are  checked  by  the  third  con- 
ception, that  of  the  Infinite.  How  can  the  Infinite 
become  that  which  it  was  not  from  the  first?  If 
causation  is  a  possible  mode  of  existence,  that  which 
exists  without  causing  is  not  infinite  ;  that  which 
becomes  a  cause  has  passed  beyond  its  former  limits 
-x     *     *     Consciousness  is  only  conceivable  as  a  re- 

*  Limits  of  Religious  Thought,  p.  75. 


A   CONSISTENT   IDEA.  17 

lation.  There  must  be  a  conscious  subject,  and  an 
object  of  which  he  is  conscious.  The  subject  is  a 
subject  to  the  object ;  the  object  is  an  object  to  the 
subject ;  and  neither  can  exist  by  itself  as  absolute. 
*  *  *  If  an  absolute  and  infinite  consciousness 
is  a  conception  which  contradicts  itself,  we  need  not 
wonder  if  its  several  modifications  mutually  exclude 
each  other.  A  mental  attribute,  to  be  conceived  as 
infinite,  must  be  in  actual  exercise  on  every  possible 
object;  otherwise  it  is  potential  only  with  regard  to 
those  on  which  it  is  not  exercised  ;  and  an  unreal- 
ized potentiality  is  a  limitation.  Hence  every  infi- 
nite mode  of  consciousness  must  be  regarded  as  ex- 
tending over  the  field  of  every  other  ;  and  this  com- 
mon action  involves  a  perpetual  antagonism.  How, 
for  example,  can  Infinite  Power  be  able  to  do  all 
things,  and  yet  Infinite  Goodness  be  unable  to  do 
evil?"* 

This  subject  is  presented  quite  at  length  by  the 
author,  but  the  nature  of  the  difficulties  he  raises, 
is  sharply  rendered  in  the  words  we  have  given. 
Their  source  can  be  clearly  pointed  out  without 
any  further  multiplication  of  them.  We  need  not 
deny  that  these  contradictions  are  found  in  the  con- 
ception of  an  Infinite  Being  as  presented  by  Mr. 
Mansel ;  but  they  may  as  easily  serve  to  expose  the 
faultiness  of  the  conception  as  to  abolish  it  alto- 
gether. This  presentation  is  made  to  rest  on  the 
following  definitions.  "  To  conceive  the  Deity  as 
He  is,  we  must  conceive  Him  as  First  Cause,  as  Ab- 
solute and  as  Infinite.     By  the  First  Cause,  is  meant 

*  Limits  of  Religions  Thought,  p.  76. 


15  NATURE    OF    GOD. 

that  which  produces  all  things,  and  is  itself  pro- 
duced of  none.  By  the  Absolute,  is  meant  that 
which  exists  in  and  by  itself,  having  no  necessary 
relation  to  any  other  Being.  By  the  Infinite,  is 
meant  that  which  is  free  from  all  possible  limitation  ; 
that  than  which  a  greater  is  inconceivable,  and 
which  consequently,  can  receive  no  additional  attri- 
bute or  mode  of  existence,  which  it  had  not  from 
all  eternity."  * 

Though  these  definitions  are  not  altogether  fortu- 
nate, the  defect  in  the  subsequent  discussion  lies 
chiefly  in  the  way  in  which  they  are  expanded  and 
applied.  The  subject  demands  a  careful  considera- 
tion, for  if  our  very  conception  of  God  is  self  de- 
structive, it  is  plain  that  we  cannot  pass  the  thresh- 
old of  Natural  Theology. 

The  terms  infinite  and  absolute  are  applied  to 
God  in  enlargement  and  elevation  of  his  nature,  and 
evidently  therefore  are  not  to  be  used  in  a  way  that 
limits  and  degrades  it.  Infinite  and  absolute  are 
formal  not  substantial  words :  they  express  not  the 
nature  but  the  degree,  the  mode  of  that  to  which 
they  apply.  Like  all  formal  terms  they  must  be 
used  in  harmony  with  the  subject  to  which  they  are 
attached,  and  not  in  disregard  of  its  inherent  nature. 
Formal  attributes  cannot  be  allowed  to  destroy 
the  substantial  attributes  on  which  they  are  depen- 
dent. These  forms  may  or  may  not  be  pertinent  to 
the  subject-matter;  this  subject-matter  must  be  al- 
lowed to  settle  the  fitness  of  their  use.  It  may  ad- 
mit them  in  one  way  and  not   in   another.     Time  is 

*  Ibid,  p.  75. 


A  CONSISTENT   IDEA.  IO, 

not  infinite  after  the  method  of  space,  but  after  its 
own  method.  Time  is  infinite  in  one  line,  space  is 
infinite  in  all  lines.  We  may  express  this  fact  by 
saying  that  time  is  infinite  in  one  dimension,  and 
space  in  three  dimensions.  The  infinity  of  space  is 
not,  therefore,  something  more  complete  than  that 
of  time.  Each  is  infinite,  but  infinite  in  its  own  way 
according  to  its  own  nature.  The  term  is  equally 
applicable  to  both.  So  space  is  continuous  and 
time  is  successive.  This  fact  is  not  derogatory  to 
the  one  or  the  other,  or  to  the  infinity  of  either. 

We  would  define  the  infinite  as  a  formal  termN 
which  expresses  the  absence  of  any  limit  in  the  at- 
tribute, being  or  entity  to  which  it  applies.  It  does 
this  without  any  modification  of  the  object  itself  to 
which  it  is  attached,  and  the  manner  and  correctness 
of  its  application  are  to  be  seen  in  the  nature  of  the 
attribute,  being  or  entity  under  consideration.  We 
would  define  the  absolute  as  expressing  a  form  of 
being  ultimately  independent  of  all  other  forms  of 
being.  We  have  no  occasion  to  define  a  First * 
Cause.  The  words  are  unfortunate  and  self-contra- 
dictory, and  are  almost  sure,  no  matter  how  we 
guard  them  by  definition,  to  disclose  in  any  discus- 
sion the  contradictory  ideas  that  enter  into  them. 
If  we  regard  God  as  a  Spirit,  the  word  spirit  being  v 
defined  by  the  human  spirit,  the  adjectives  infinite 
and  absolute  carry  with  them  at  once  his  eternity 
and  supremacy.  He  is  before  all  things,  and  He  is 
the  source  of  all  things.  „ 

The  object  of  these  adjectives  is  to  express  the 
exaltation  of  the  Divine  Spirit ;  and  the  only  in- 


20  NATURE    OF    GOD. 

quiries  concerning  them  are,  in  what  directions, 
from  the  nature  of  the  subject,  can  they  be  applied? 
and,  are  they  in  these  directions,  with  this  end  in 
view,  consistently  applicable  ?  The  adjective  in- 
finite is  primarily  referable,  when  united  with  the 
word  spirit,  to  power  and  wisdom.  The  Infinite 
Spirit  is  infinite  in  power  and  wisdom.  Is  there 
here  any  incongruity  or  contradiction  between  the 
formal  element  expressed  by  the  word  infinite,  and 
the  substantial  elements  of  spiritual  power  and 
wisdom?  Have  we  unwittingly,  in  this  ascrip- 
tion of  praise,  destroyed,  at  least  mentally,  the  ob- 
ject of  praise?  If  one  says  infinite  sweetness,  or  in- 
finite sharpness,  or  infinite  pleasure;  such  a  discrep- 
ancy appears  immediately.  The  same  would  be 
true  of  infinite  power,  if  by  infinite  power  is  meant 
power  realized  in  action.  No  expressed  force  can 
be  infinite,  as  no  phenomenal  fact  can  be  infinite. 
Power  in  passing  into  force,  into  facts,  becomes  defi- 
nite and  finite.  The  universe,  no  matter  how  large, 
is  not  infinite ;  any  more  than  one  of  its  parts  is 
infinite.  Infinite  power,  therefore,  is  potential 
power,  but  potential  power  is  preeminently  and  ex- 
clusively spiritual  power.  The  only  potential  thing 
in  the  universe  is  spirit.  We  may,  then,  speak  of 
the  Infinite  Spirit ;  indeed,  it  is  the  only  form  of 
power  to  which  the  word  could  be  applied.  But 
when  we  use  the  word  infinite  in  connection  with 
spiritual  power,  we  not  only  may  mean,  we  must 
mean,  potential  power.  The  word  is  applicable  in 
this  direction  only.  There  are  unmeasured  depths 
of  possibility  in  God,  but  that  which   He  has  made 


A  CONSISTENT  IDEA.  21 

is  finite  in  every  portion  of  it.  We  must,  then,  re- 
ject the  assertion  of  Mansel,  that  an  attribute,  to  be 
conceived  as  infinite,  must  be  in  actual  exercise, 
and  with  this  assertion  reject  all  the  contradictions 
derived  from  it.  The  exact  opposite  would  seem 
to  be  true  ;  the  infinite  always  implies  the  poten- 
tial not  the  actual,  always  pertains  to  the  spiritual 
and  not  to  its  material  manifestation. 

In  applying  the  adjective  infinite  to  God,  we  af- 
firm that  an  inexhaustible  potency  cradles  the  uni- 
verse ;  but  the  universe  itself,  the  partial  expression 
of  this  power,  remains  what  it  always  has  been  and 
must  be,  finite.  Creation  is  a  passage  from  the  po- 
tential to  the  actual,  from  the  infinite  to  the  finite.  > 
Infinite  power  and  infinite  wisdom  and  perfect N 
love  no  more  overlap  and  cover  and  so  exclude  each 
other  than  do  infinite  space  and  infinite  time.  In- 
finite power  expresses  itself  as  force  and  infinite 
wisdom  as  rational  relations  and  perfect  love  as 
beneficent  relations.  Perfect  love  and  wisdom  are 
a  law  to  infinite  power,  because  they  are  all  gath- 
ered up  in  one  Being  ;  but  love  is  not  a  narrowing 
of  power.  To  insist  that  the  self-contained  laws  of 
rational  life  are  a  restriction  of  life,  is  to  be  misled 
by  words ;  is  to  affirm  that  unreason  is  better  than 
reason,  unrighteousness  than  righteousness.  The] 
power  of  God  is  not  reduced  by  his  moral  nature,  it 
is  guided  by  it.  We  may  attach  a  very  definite  and 
a  very  sufficient  meaning  to  the  word  infinite,  in  its 
application  to  God,  and  yet  respect  perfectly  the 
inherent  nature  of  the  attributes  that  pertain  to  Him. 
The  assertion  seems  childish  that  perfect  love  is  in 


22  NATURE    OF    GOD. 

contradiction  of  infinite  power,  because  love  and 
power  restrain  each  other,  both  under  the  law  of 
reason.  The  only  way  in  which  this  can  be  made 
to  seem  plausible  is,  by  confounding  potential 
power  with  expressed  force.  Force  in  expression  is 
limited  by  love,  but  not  the  potentiality  from  which 
it  springs.  The  humane  master  who  does  not  beat 
his  servant  has  not,  therefore,  less  power  than  the 
inhumane  master  who  does  beat  him. 

Similar  considerations  are  applied  to  the  word, 
absolute.  By  absolute  we  express  the  ultimate  in- 
dependence and  completeness  of  God  within  Him- 
self, that  He  is  the  unobstructed  source  of  all 
things.  Men  no  sooner  begin  to  work  than  they 
find  themselves  limited  by  the  material  at  hand. 
They  suffer  a  double  restriction,  the  feebleness  of 
their  own  forces,  the  discordant  nature  of  indepen- 
dent forces.  They  can  only  accomplish  such  re- 
sults as  their  own  strength  and  the  material  at  hand 
will  admit  of,  in  their  relation  to  each  other.  A 
system  of  actions  and  reactions  is  established  and 
is  expressed  in  the  issue.  It  is  this  constant  de- 
pendence that  is  meant  by  man's  relative  weakness. 
'When  it  is  said  that  God  is  absolute,  it  is  meant 
that  He  puts  forth  His  creative  acts  into  a  void,  and 
is  subject  to  no  reactions  that  He  has  not  contem- 
plated and  desired.  The  material  used  is  not  for- 
eign to  Him,  nor  is  it  feeble  or  refractory  in  His 
hand.  The  word  must,  indeed,  be  applied  ration- 
ally and  rationally  restricted.  Reason  is  a  law  unto 
itself,  it  does  not  thereby  cease  to  be  absolute.  Its 
exaltation,  its  absoluteness  are   found   in  this  very 


A    CONSISTENT     IDEA.  23 

fact,  that  it  flows  forth  with  an  interior  perfection 
that  anticipates  and  provides  for  all  results,  and 
makes  them  things  not  to  be  deprecated  or  departed 
from.  The  results  certainly  are  relative,  the  ac- 
tivity of  God  is  relative  within  itself  ;  but  there  is 
still  left  a  consistent  and  sufficient  meaning  to  the 
word  absolute,  when  we  express  by  it  the  transcend- 
ent fact,  that  these  relations  are  the  exclusive  pro- 
duct of  the  Divine  Reason,  acting  under  its  own 
law:  that  they  are  not,  as  with  us,  more  or  less  for- 
eign to  His  thought  and  a  limit  on  His  power.  This 
explanation  also  sweeps  away  another  large  class 
of  alleged  contradictions.  Each  divine  act  is,  indeed, 
relative,  but  relative  under  relations  imposed  exclu- 
sively by  the  Divine  Reason  ;  and  this  is  the  fact 
stated  when  we  say  that  God  is  absolute.  The 
thought  of  God  is  sufficient  unto  itself.  The  Abso- 
lute is  in  its  manifestation  the  relative,  precisely  as 
the  Infinite  is  the  finite.  It  is  for  this  very  purpose, 
the  inclusion  of  all  things,  that  the  idea  of  God 
enters. 

§  4.  Now  let  us  look  a  little  more  independently 
at  the  conception  properly  covered  by  the  word 
God.  We  shall  do  it  but  briefly,  as  we  should  oth- 
erwise anticipate  more  favorable  opportunities  for 
the  gradual  expansion  of  the  idea  which  will  be  of- 
fered in  connection  with  the  proof  of  His  being. 
It  is  not  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  rational  be- 
lief that  we  have  a  complete,  or  anything  like  a 
complete  conception  of  the  Divine  Nature ;  but 
only  that  we  have  one  consistent  and  intelligible. 
We  have  but  a  vague  notion  of  the  form  of  being 


24  NATURE    OF    GOD. 

which  belongs  to  our  own  spirits,  and  a  still  vaguer 
one  of  the  relation  of  the  mind  to  its  physical 
organs.  Our  lives  are  not,  therefore,  in  reference  to 
these  elements  of  thought,  irrational  or  unmanage- 
able. 

We  have  no  more  occasion   to  regard   as  infinite 
the  facts  of  consciousness  in  God  than  we  have  to 
regard  His   works  of  creation   as   infinite.     Indeed, 
for  the  very  reason  that  anything  which   He  does 
is  finite,  becomes   finite   in  the   very  doing;  every- 
thing which  He  thinks  must  also  be  finite.     Infinite 
thought  is  as  impossible  as  infinite  action,  as  infinite 
creation.     Thought   and  action   reflect  each    other, 
and  the  conscious  states  in  the  Divine  mind  can  no 
more  be  without  limits  and  relations   than   can  the 
creative   acts  which   express   them.      The  assertion 
that  the  infinity  of  God  attaches  to    His  conscious 
states  is  quite  premature,  and  the  spirit  of  this  haste 
is  seen   when  the   destructive  inference   is  immedi- 
ately drawn,    that  the   facts   of    consciousness    are, 
therefore,  inconceivable     and    apparently   impossi- 
ble.      It    is,    indeed,    impossible    that    mental  pro- 
cesses   should    be    rationally    relative,   yet    infinite. 
But  is  it  not  a  blind   infatuation,  a  verbal  illusion, 
to  destroy   reason  by  magnitude,  the   substance  of 
righteousness   by    an    extension   impossible    to  it? 
Losing  the  thing,  we  lose  the  form  also.     By  an  as- 
sertion of  the  infinite  we  abolish  the  infinite.     The 
infinity  of  God  lies  in  the   potentiality   of  thought, 
while  thought  itself  is  realized  under  its  own  inal- 
ienable forms. 

It  is  sometimes  implied  in  this  connection   that 


THE    TRUE    IDEA.  2$ 

consciousness  necessarily  involves  a  single  serial 
line  of  mental  facts,  and  is  thus  incapable,  not  only 
of  infinite  but  of  indefinite  extension.  Plainly 
this  is  not  true.  The  phenomena  of  mind  are  not 
in  the  mind's  grasp  of  them  single,  but  complex. 
The  vision  of  the  mind  is  allied  to  that  of  the  eye. 
It  covers  many  things  with  relative  indistinctness 
and  several  things  with  comparative  completeness. 
Contrast  the  consciousness  of  Alexander  Humbolt 
with  that  of  a  simple  farmer.  There  is  in  it  an  im- 
mense superiority  in  the  multiplicity  of  the  facts  it 
holds  and  uses  ;  yet  there  are  no  strain,  no  fatigue, 
no  confusion  incident  to  this  greatly  enlarged 
power.  There  is  in  the  nature  of  the  case  no  lim- 
its to  this  extension.  Intellect  can  transcend  itself 
in  all  degrees.  The  space  between  the  feeblest  rea- 
son and  the  reason  of  Humbolt  is  a  mere  unit  of 
measurement  which  may  be  repeated  again  and 
again.  The  mind  of  man  is  cognizant  of  a  great 
variety  of  facts  within  the  range  of  his  senses  and 
works  them  all  into  one  experience.  The  mind  of 
God  may  pervade  the  universe,  as  human  thought 
follows  after  sight  and  sound,  and  the  supposition 
contradicts  no  experience,  violates  no  necessary 
truths.  Certainly  it  transcends  experience,  but  it 
does  not  so  transcend  it  as  to  be  unintelligible  to 
us.  The  truth  is,  the  empirical  philosophy  has  been 
so  long  busy  in  dwarfing,  stultifying  and  disparag- 
ing the  reason,  as  to  make  it  timid  and  uncertain 
within  the  legitimate  scope  of  its  conclusions. 
When  it  is  said  that  we  get  a  narrow  range  of  the 
physical    world    by   virtue   of    a   nervous    system, 


26 


NATURE    OF    GOD. 


while  the  universe,  as  a  whole,  presents  no  such 
system,  and  is  consequently  impermeable  to  mind, 
we  reason  in  a  most  narrow  and  stupid  way  from 
the  limitations  of  our  own  finite  being  to  a  being 
without  these  limits.  To  make  the  finite  a  bound 
of  thought  is  to  destroy  by  anticipation  all  possible 
proof  of  the  infinite  ;  to  make  it  a  type  and  symbol  of 
thought  is  to  interpret  the  infinite.  Are  we  to  say 
that  God  cannot  move  rapidly  from  one  portion  of 
the  universe  to  another  because  there  are  no  rail- 
roads ?  The  empirical  philosophy  should  cut  short 
all  argument  at  once  on  this  subject  by  the  simple 
assertion  that  the  finite  can  find  no  data  in  its  ex- 
perience for  the  discussion.  That  it  does  not  do 
this,  simply  shows  that  it  can  not,  dare  not  be  logi- 
cally true  to  itself.  It  belongs  to  reason,  and  none 
of  us  can  so  sell  our  birthright  as  to  forget  it,  to 
expand  old  terms  under  new  conditions  with  the 
loss  of  neither,  to  hold  fast  to  the  idea  of  an  in- 
telligence which  does  not  exist  under  the  limita- 
tions of  the  human  mind.  An  experience  that 
never  transcends  itself  through  its  rational  terms  is 
the  experience  of  an  idiot.  That  is  precisely  what 
reason  is  about,  throwing  the  mind  beyond  experi- 
v  ence  by  the  interpretation  of  experience. 

God  is  the  Supreme  Reason.  But  reason  is  known 
unto  us  in  the  inherent  force  and  universality  of  its 
laws.  Reason  is  the  seat  and  source  of  all  orderly 
relations,  and  must  externally  exist  in,  and  express 
itself  through,  them.  Primary  among  these  relations 
are  those  involving  space  and  time.  Space  and  time 
are  accompanying  conditions  of  every  work  of  reason, 


THE    TRUE    IDEA.  2/ 

and  reason  brings  them  forward  as  the  necessary 
forms  of  its  activity.  The  image  in  the  lake  or  the 
mirror,  the  dream,  the  poem,  the  painting,  the  dra- 
matic representation  are  all  shaped  by  a  constructive 
human  mind  under  these  terms  of  a  rational  experi- 
ence. We  cannot  enter  the  spaces  or  times  which 
belong  to  the  dreams  of  our  neighbors,  because  the 
dreams  themselves  are  unknown  to  us.  We  can  con- 
struct with  them  under  the  same  terms  the  spaces 
and  times  of  a  tragedy.  Space  and  time  are  strictly 
formal  elements  dependent  for  their  reality  on  the 
reality  of  the  things  they  contain.  The  space  in  the 
mirror  disappears  when  the  image  is  lost,  the  space 
of  the  dream  when  we  awake  from  it.  The  space 
and  time  of  the  world  about  us  are  real  only  as 
things  and  events  are  so.  Space  and  time  come  for- 
ward with  the  Eternal  Reason,  involved  in  it  as  the 
first  elements  of  its  constructive  acts.  The  mind  as 
rational  bears  everywhere  with  it  these  formal  con- 
ditions of  its  activity,  and  the  Eternal  Mind  gives  to 
them  the  breadth  and  stability  which  belong  to  the 
foundations  of  the  universe  which  it  has  built  up 
under  them.  As  the  universe  is  the  thought  of  God, 
so  the  constructive  reason  existent  in  it  carries  with 
it  space,  time,  number,  all  the  rational  conditions  of 
its  own  revelation.  These  forms  of  reason,  like  the 
Reason  they  hedge  about,  are  infinite,  eternal.  They 
are  not  separable,  but  one.  Such  may  be  our  con- 
ception of  God,  a  conception  which  we  must  con- 
stantly reconstruct  as  we  find  occasion. 


CHAPTER  II. 

BEING    OF    GOD  ;    UNSATISFACTORY    FORMS  OF    PROOF. 

§  I.  In  entering  on  a  form  of  proof  involving  so 
many  considerations  as  that  for  the  being  of  God, 
and  considerations  which  have  such  very  diverse 
weight  for  different  minds,  we  need  to  prepare  the 
way  for  it,  as  far  as  possible,  by  settling  the  legiti- 
macy of  the  various  appeals  so  constantly  made  to 
psychology  in  the  course  of  the  argument.  Proofs, 
both  for  and  against  the  being  of  God,  are  charac- 
terized by  very  loose  and  unsatisfactory  assertions, 
assertions  that  have  no  clear  and  sufficient  basis  in 
the  human  mind.  These  statements  pertain  chiefly 
to  psychology,  as  the  whole  deductive  and  inductive 
force  of  an  argument  extending  to  the  being  and 
nature  of  an  Infinite  Spirit  must  be  derived  from 
the  spirit  of  man  and  from  his  experience. 

It  is  urged  with  great  confidence  against  the  le- 
gitimacy of  the  growth  of  the  idea  of  God,  that  it 
has  been  in  all  stages  anthropomorphic,  and,  in  its 
earlier  stages  absurdly  so.  The  statement  must  be 
admitted,  but  the  correct  conclusion  from  it  is  not 
,  that  usually  drawn.  It  is  inevitable  that  we  should 
interpret  the  nature  of  God  by  our  own  nature,  that 

23 


APPEALS  TO   CONSCIOUSNESS.  2Q 

this  interpretation  should  involve  many  errors,  and 
be  acompanied  by  a  tardy  enlargement  of  thought. 
The  process  is  not,  therefore,  illegitimate,  but  like 
any  process  of  human  thought,  partial  and  progres- 
sive. There  is  no  reason  why  we  should  require  the 
conception  of  God  to  be  complete  from  the  begin- 
ning any  more  than  any  other  conception,  but  every 
reason  why  we  should  not.  Its  very  magnitude 
must  make  the  range  of  error  and  of  partial  state- 
ment correspondingly  great.  Growth  here  is  as 
much  in  order  as  elsewhere,  and  if  it  were  not  pres- 
ent, the  want  of  it  would  be  fatal  to  our  faith. 
That  this  growth  takes  place  in  the  direction  of  hu- 
man character  affords  no  farther,  no  independent, 
objection  to  it ;  since  human  character  covers  the 
spiritual  facts  on  which  all  inductions  and  deduc- 
tions in  this  direction  rest.  Man  must  entertain  the 
conception  of  God  in  the  way  in  which  it  comes. 
Its  only  illustrative  type  is  his  own  nature.  The 
very  theory  of  a  Divine  Being  supposes  man  to  be 
made  in  the  image  of  God,  and  in  consequence  of 
this  fact  and  this  fact  only  to  be  able  to  entertain 
the  knowledge  of  him.  It  is  absurd  to  require  our 
thoughts  to  transcend  themselves  ;  or  to  object  to 
a  conclusion  because  it  does  not  overstep  its  exist- 
ing data.  The  being  of  God  is  brought  forward  to 
explain,  in  their  largest  circle,  spiritual  facts,  and 
physical  facts  in  their  relation  to  them.  A  Being 
quite  alien  to  the  spiritual  world  as  expressed  to  us 
in  man  and  for  the  time  being  understood  by  us 
through  him  would,  by  this  alienation,  fail  in  thought 
of  the  very  purposes  of  exposition  and  comprehen- 


30         BEING  OF  GOD FORMS  OF  PROOF. 

sion  had  in  view  in  the  argument  which  establishes 
his  existence.     It  is  a  strange  objection  to  a  method 
that  it  subserves  its  rational  purpose  in  the  only  way 
\  open  to  it. 

Science  itself  has  disclosed  in  its  history  the  same 
growth  of  conceptions  from  those  more,  to  those 
less  anthropomorphic  in  form.  Science  is  not 
therefore,  illegitimate  in  its  general  method.  If, 
with  Newton,  we  explain  the  phenomena  of  light 
by  the  supposition  of  a  material  substance  charac- 
terized by  "  fits  of  easy  transmission,"  we  are  none 
the  less  moving  forward  to  the  truer  view.  So  sim- 
ple and  primitive  a  notion  as  that  of  causation  has 
required  a  long  period  to  separate  it  from  chance  and 
liberty,  and  to  properly  define  it  in  its  application. 

There  are  many  unwarrantable  appeals  made  to 
consciousness  in  discussions  of  the  being  of  God. 
This  is  much  to  be  regretted,  as  they  can  lead  only 
to  confusion,  hopeless  separation,  and  even  to  a  con- 
temptuous rejection  of  the  entire  argument  with 
which  they  are  associated.  We  shall  have  little  or 
no  occasion  to  appeal  to  consciousness.  Such  an 
appeal,  when  rightly  taken,  can  hardly  be  unsatis- 
factory to  any  mind,  any  more  than  an  appeal  to 
the  eye  or  to  the  ear.  For  this  reason,  the  perfect 
obviousness  of  the  facts  which  appear  in  conscious- 
ness, we  have  rarely  any  occasion  to  refer  to  it. 
Consciousness  offers  simply  the  phenomena  of  mind, 
thoughts,  feelings,  volitions,  nothing  more.  The 
fact  of  thought,  not  the  correctness  of  thought,  is 
( involved  in  consciousness.  Consciousness  gives  us 
the  material  for  an  argument  to  the  being  of  God, 


APPEALS  TO  IMAGINATION.  3I 

but  has  very  little  to  do  with  the  argument  itself. 
The  confusion  at  this  point  arises  from  a  tendency 
to  use  the  word  consciousness,  not  as  the  designa- 
tion of  the  inseparable  condition  or  form  of  all  men- 
tal phenomena,  but  as  a  collective  term  for  the 
mental  powers,  or  still  more  obscurely,  for  the 
higher  or  more  intuitive  powers.  An  appeal  taken 
to  consciousness  under  this  meaning  necessarily 
escapes  all  refutation,  for  the  primary  powers  referred 
to  are  not  indicated,  neither  the  exact  form  of  their 
action.     The  issue  is  thus  evaded  by  generality. 

Another  occasion  of  very  needless  confusion  in 
an  argument  concerning  the  being  of  God  is  found 
in  the  use  of  the  word  conceivable.  What  weight 
are  we  to  attach  to  the  objection,  that  this  or  that 
statement  is  not  conceivable?  By  conceivable  isN 
meant,  or  should  be  meant,  the  possibility  of  a  con- 
sistent construction  before  the  mind  of  the  phe- 
nomena involved.  The  imagination,  the  construc- 
tive power,  works  within  experience,  and  exclu- 
sively under  its  forms.  If,  therefore,  any  statement 
pertains  either  to  the  facts  of  matter  or  of  mind,  it 
is  an  objection  to  that  statement  if  it  does  not  ad- 
mit of  a  coherent  representation  by  the  imagina- 
tion— if  it  is  inconceivable.  An  assertion,  however, 
which  is  not  concerning  phenomena,  but  concerning 
ultimate  being,  as  the  existence  of  force,  or  of  the 
soul,  or  of  God,  cannot  be  tested  by  the  imagina- 
tion, and  it  is  in  no  way  an  objection  to  it  to  say  of 
it,  it  is  inconceivable.  A  sound  is  not  disproved 
by  being  invisible.  Things  that  are  offered  as'' 
ultimate  ideas  or  as  noumena  are  not  weakened  in- 


32  BEING    OF    GOD FORMS    OF    PROOF. 

their  force  by  being  pronounced  inconceivable.  The 
strictly  empirical  philosophy  finds  no  grounds  on 
which  to  admit  the  discussion  of  these  ultimate 
terms  ;  but  having  admitted  them,  it  is  not  permit- 
ted to  this  philosophy  to  object  to  their  validity, 
because  they  cannot  be  constructed  in  the  imagina- 
tion. 

They  are  not  presented  as  being  within  the  range 
of  experience.  The  imagination,  from  the  nature  of 
the  power  and  from  its  dependence  on  the  senses, 
is  ruled  out  of  the  discussion  of  questions  of  ulti- 
mate being,  since  it  is  only  of  phenomena  that  it 
takes  cognizance. 

Another  objection  allied  to  this  has  much  greater 
weight  ;  indeed,  if  well  taken,  it  must  be  admitted 
to  be  fatal  to  any  theoretical  explanations  of  the 
universe.  This  objection  is  that  of  the  inherent 
contradiction  in  the  terms  involved.  Reason  can 
not  reach  conflicting  conclusions  and  retain  its  force. 
The  authority  of  reason  is  found  in  the  ultimate 
coherence  of  its  results.  If  any  conclusion  is  not 
merely  inconceivable  but  unknowable,  it  can  carry 
no  conviction  to  the  mind. 

Nor  must  we  be  allowed  to  make  any  appeal  to 
intuition  in  these  last  and  most  difficult  discussions 
of  ultimate  facts,  save  under  the  forms  previously 
defined  and  adequately  established  in  psychology. 
The  range  of  intuition  must  first  be  settled,  and  the 
ideas  properly  referable  to  it,  or  it  becomes  a  most 
convenient  and  most  obscure  way  of  cutting  short 
inquiry  that  is  not  reaching  a  result  satisfactory  to 
us.     Intuition,  as  an  act   of  reason,  yields   certain 


ITS    RELATION    TO    EXPERIENCE. 


33 


general  ideas,  like  that  of  space,  time,  causation,  of 
which  the  mind  is  in  more  or  less  constant  use ;  it 
does  not  give  specific  facts  of  being,  no  matter  of 
how  grand  an  order  these  may  be.  No  wise  appeal 
then  to  intuition  can  be  taken  in  an  argument  for 
the  being  of  God,  save  in  reference  to  those  definite, 
constructive  ideas — with  their  subordinate  axioms — 
that  have  been  distinctly  enumerated  and  carefully 
established  in  psychology.  On  this  condition  only 
can  we  keep  any  logical  process  from  dissolving  in 
mist  at  the  critical  moment  of  its  conclusion.  In 
any  other  method  the  fundamental  truths  of  psy- 
chology might  be  either  passed  by  or  overstrained 
in  any  subordinate  branch. 

Neither  have  we  any  more  right  to  appeal  to  the 
feelings — in  the  form  of  faith — without  an  appre- 
hension of  their  exact  nature,  and  a  careful  estimate 
of  their  value  as  proof.  Having  once  brought  our 
cause  before  the  bar  of  reason,  we  must  abide  there 
till  a  verdict  is  rendered.  The  feelings  with  which 
we  support  an  argument — and  they  may  yield  us  very 
valuable  aid — must  be  disclosed  in  their  intellectual 
attachments  and  rational  force.  Having  in  any  way 
reached  an  inadmissible  conclusion,  we  may  not 
take  refuge  in  faith  from  farther  inquiry.  This  is 
to  give  to  ourselves  the  unfair  advantage  in  the  con- 
flict of  becoming  visible  and  invisible  at  pleasure. 

There  is  one  further  condition  of  fair  argumenta- 
tion on  this  subject.  Our  human  experience  can 
be  regarded  neither  as  a  term  of  strict  measure- 
ment nor  yet  as  one  wholly  irrelevant.  The  analogy 
which  exists  between  the  finite  spirit  and  the  In- 


34  BEING    OF    GOD — FORMS    OF    PROOF. 

finite  Spirit  is  neither  complete,  nor  is  it  null.  If  it 
were  complete,  the  discussion  must  end  at  once;  for 
no  repetition  of  the  finite  can  give  us  the  Infinite, 
and  so  the  Infinite  would  be  unattainable.  If  it 
were  null,  the  same  result  would  be  reached.  Hav- 
ing nothing  whatever  with  which  to  interpret  the 
Infinite,  it  would  truly  be  to  us  the  unknown.  The 
finite,  as  regards  substance,  is  the  just  basis  of  an 
analogical  argument  to  the  Infinite  ;  while  as  regards 
those  elements  of  form  which  touch  the  points  of 
disagreement  between  the  two,  as  finite  and  Infinite, 
.no  analogy  can  be  urged.  The  reason  of  man  is  not 
a  servant  to  his  senses.  It  can  discern  the  fitting 
scope,  and  also  the  necessary  restrictions,  of  an  ar- 
gument of  this  subtile  and  ultimate  character.  To 
overlook  this  power  of  thought ;  to  insist  that  we 
can  never  transcend  our  own  experience,  or  interpret 
it  in  reference  to  ulterior  ends  of  the  reason,  is  to 
make  the  reason  itself  the  helpless  and  hopeless 
product  of  the  physical  facts  which  encompass  it. 
We  easily  apprehend  one  hour.  This  is  a  unit  of 
time  that  lies  in  our  experience.  We  are  not,  there- 
fore, the  less  capable  of  the  notion  of  eternity.  The 
soundest  philosophy  recognizes  this  double  play  of 
the  mind  within  and  without  its  own  experience, 
and  so  rallies  all  its  rational  resources.  Without 
claiming  this  power,  and  availing  ourselves  constantly 
of  it,  any  discussion  of  the  being  of  God  becomes 
preposterous.  It  is  thus  an  absurd  narrowing  down 
of  human  thought  to  inquire  after  the  brain  of  God  ; 
since  the  brain  of  man  is  evidently  incident  to  a 
finite  nature,  enclosed  by  forms  alien  to  him. 


A    PRIORI    PROOF.  35 

§  2.  An  argument  for  the  being  of  God  involves 
an  interpretation  of  the  universe  in  its  origin,  charac- 
ter and  destiny.  It  thus  searches  the  mind  for  its 
most  penetrative  intuitions,  and  calls  on  the  judg- 
ment for  its  most  sober  and  extended  combinations. 
The  proofs  for  the  being  of  God  have  gained  data 
rapidly  with  the  growth  of  knowledge,  but  the  diffi- 
culties of  their  interpretation  and  coherent  construc- 
tion have  increased  in  the  same  ratio.  The  argu- 
ment as  a  whole  thus  presents  as  much  perplexity 
to-day  as  ever  before.  While  the  grounds  of  belief 
have  expanded  on  the  one  side,  those  of  unbelief 
have  equally  enlarged  themselves  on  the  other. 
Faith,  as  hitherto,  remains  a  triumph  of  the  ration- 
ally constructive  nature. 

No  argument  of  this  character  can  rest  simply  on 
the  intuitions.  We  cannot  pass  from  an  idea  to  a 
fact.  However  coherent  the  ideas  of  the  reason  may 
be  within  themselves,  however  serviceable  they  may 
be  in  the  comprehension  of  facts,  they  do  not  involve 
in  their  ideal  form  the  very  facts.  The  truths  of 
geometry  express  controlling  relations  in  the  outside 
world.  They  do  not  prove  its  being.  The  a  priori 
argument  of  Anselm  involved  this  error,  an  effort  to 
make  the  inner  coherence  and  scope  of  an  idea  a 
proof  not  of  its  validity  merely  as  an  idea,  but  of  the 
existence  of  a  fact  corresponding  to  it. 

The  argument  runs  in  this  form.  The  human 
mind  possesses  the  idea  of  the  most  perfect  Being. 
But  this  idea  includes  that  of  necessary  existence. 
11  Surely  that  than  which  a  greater  cannot  be  con- 
ceived, cannot  exist  in  the  mind  alone.     For  if  we 


$6  BEING  OF  GOD FORMS  OF  PROOF. 

suppose  it  exists  only  subjectively  in  the  intellect 
and  not  objectively  in  fact,  then  we  can  conceive  of 
something  greater.  We  can  conceive  of  a  Being 
who  exists  objectively,  and  this  is  greater  than  a 
merely  mental  existence."*  One  cannot,  therefore, 
conceive  of  the  non-existence  of  God  without  a 
4  logical  contradiction.  The  idea  of  the  most  perfect 
Being  doubtless  involves  self-existence,  but  it  in- 
volves it  only  as  a  part  of  the  idea.  An  idea  is  no 
less  perfect  as  an  idea  because  there  is  no  fact  cor- 
responding to  it.  Existence  is  not  a  perfection  ;  it 
is  a  mere  question  of  facts.  Anselm,  when  pushed 
with  this  obvious  consideration,  that  perfection  no- 
where else  carries  with  it  real  being,  made  answer, 
that  no  other  idea  was  logically  parallel  with  this 
idea  of  God,  that  no  other  idea  contained  the  notion 
of  necessary  existence  as  part  of  its  perfection.  This 
last  statement  is  true,  but  does  not  effect  the  argu- 
ment. If  actual  existence  is  an  addition  to  the  per- 
fection of  the  idea  of  God,  so  would  it  be  to  that  of 
a  circle.  If  perfection  in  one  form  carries  with  it  no 
proof  of  reality,  we  can  give  no  sufficient  reason 
why  it  should  in  its  most  comprehensive  form. 
It  is  the  notion  of  self-existence,  not  actual  self- 
existence,  which  the  perfection  of  the  idea  covers. 
This  a  priori  argument  is  not  generally  felt  to  be 
valid.  Since  it  has  demonstrative  force,  if  it  has  any 
force,  this  extended  rejection  of  it  is  wholly  destruc- 
tive of  its  practical  worth,  and  indicates  an  inherent 
vweakness  never  removed. 

The  argument,  as  modified  by  Descartes,  is  not 
a  priori.     He  starts  with  the  same  idea,  as  present  in 

*History  of  Christian  Doctrines,  vol.  i,  p.  231. 


A    PRIORI    PROOF.  37 

the  human  mind,  of  a  perfect,  omnipresent,  self- 
existent  Being.  He  then  inquires,  What  can  be  the 
the  source  of  so  peculiar  and  so  primitive  a  notion? 
Having  shown  that  it  cannot  be  referred  to  the  tem- 
poral and  partial,  he  assigns  it,  with  the  vigor  of  a 
necessary  conviction,  to  a  personal  Being  correspond- 
ing to  itself,  commensurate  with  itself,  and  who 
alone  can  be  a  sufficient  cause  of  its  presence.  When 
this  idea  in  the  human  mind  is  taken  up,  not  as  an 
idea  merely  but  as  a  fact  also,  and  its  source  as  a 
fact  sought  for,  the  argument  ceases  to  be  simply 
a  priori.  We  raise  the  question,  What  other  facts 
are  a  sufficient  explanation  of  this  fact,  and  so  in- 
volved in  it?  Our  deductive  conclusions  must  here 
be  guided  and  corrected  by  experience,  by  our  pre- 
vious psychological  analysis  of  the  nature  and  origin 
of  ideas.  This  argument  of  Descartes  is  thus  fully 
open  to  modification  by  all  the  valid  results  of 
Empirical  Philosophy  as  to  the  growth  of  human 
intelligence. 

The  argument  of  Samuel  Clarke  includes  still  more 
empirical  elements.  Both  his  proof  and  that  of 
Descartes  are  fundamentally  affected  by  the  joint 
progress  of  science  and  philosophy.  If  our  ideas 
may  have  another  origin  than  that  assigned  them 
by  these  philosophers,  the  argument  gives  ground. 
It  calls,  therefore,  for  no  distinct  discussion. 

There  are  still  prevalent  obscure  ways  of  appeal- 
ing to  consciousness  on  this  subject.  They  involve 
proof  of  no  definite  quality  or  amount,  since  it 
admits  of  no  analytic  statement.  Without  affirm- 
ing that  we  can  furnish  or  ought   to   furnish   a  uni- 


38  BEING  OF  GOD  — FORMS  OF  PROOF. 

versal  expression  of  the  value  of  any  given  moral 
argument,  we   should   insist   that  all   points  of  ap- 
peal and   tribunals   of  appeal  be   clearly  stated,  so 
that  each  mind   in  its  own   experience  and   powers 
may  have  grounds  for  judging  the  case.     An    argu- 
ment that  does  not   do   this   can  carry  little  or    no 
logical  force.     If  we  once  admit  the  need  of  proof, 
we  must   also   accept  the  conditions  of  proof.     An 
assertion  like  the  following,  simply   confounds  dis- 
cussion  and,    if    pertinent    at    all,    should    precede 
proof,  not  follow  it.     "  The  being  of  God  is    simply 
the    utterance    or    attestation    of    the    soul    in    the 
presence  of  the  object,  which  it  does  not  so  much 
discover  by  searching  as  apprehend   in  the   act  of 
revealing  itself.     It  is  not   an  argument,   an  infer- 
ence, a  conclusion.    It  is  an  attestation  the  glimpse 
of  the  reality  which  is  apprehended  by  the    instinct 
of  the  worshipper  and  through  the  poet's  vision  as 
much  as  the  gaze  of  the  speculative  reason."*     We 
do  not  object  to  this  as  a  simple    statement  of  a 
complex   spiritual  experience   of  a  high   order,  but 
to  offer  it  as  a  proof  or  a   philosophy,  is   as  if  one 
should   expound    the    doctrine   of  perception   by  a 
rapturous  enforcement  of  the  impressions  of  vision. 
No  induction,  not    even    the    simplest,  can   pro- 
ceed without  the  aid   of   intuition   and   deduction. 
The    empirical  proofs    of    the   being  of    God    have 
multiplied    under  the  progress  of  science,  yet  have 
fallen  off  from  their  goal  rather  than  approached  it 
more  nearly.     We  will  first  consider  those  narrowly 
inductive  arguments  whose  miscarriage  is  becoming 
more  and  more  apparent  to   all   penetrative    minds. 

*  Theism.     British  Quarterly,  July  1871. 


INDUCIVE     PROOF.  39 

The  insufficiency  of  these  proofs  has  shaken  the 
faith  of  many.  Their  persevering  presence  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  ease  with  which  they  are  over- 
thrown on  the  other,  are  the  results  of  the  passing 
phase  of  philosophy.  When  this  superficiality  of 
psychological  thought  shall  have  gone  by,  the  way 
will  be  open  for  a  broader  comprehension  of  mat- 
ter and  mind.  The  more  quickly  we  see,  and  the 
more  fully  we  admit,  that  an  inductive  method, 
brought  down  to  the  conditions  of  an  ordinary  in- 
quiry into  physical  facts,  can  not  furnish  sufficient 
proof  for  the  being  of  God,  the  sooner  shall  we  be 
prepared  to  search  in  more  fortunate  directions  for 
better  foundations  for  this  truth  and  all  the  truths 
of  our  spiritual  constitution.  It  is  now  greatly  to 
be  regretted  that  so  many  structures  which  might 
otherwise  be  admirable  rest  so  largely  on  the  drift- 
ing sand  of  empiricism. 

§  3.  Every  argument  which  seeks  to  establish  the 
great  truths  of  religion  must  start  from  the  facts  of 
the  physical  and  of  the  spiritual  world  just  about  us. 
Its  success  in  rising  above  these  facts  to  a  source 
more  comprehensive  than  they  are,  and  to  one  in- 
volving another  grade  of  being,  must  depend  on  the 
ideas  and  the  analogies  under  which  the  proof  pro- 
ceeds. The  narrowly  inductive  arguments  of  which 
we  are  now  speaking  turn  wholly  on  the  notion  of 
causation,  and  interpret  the  world  exclusively  by 
physical  laws.  By  the  aid  of  this  notion  and  these 
laws  no  transition  to  a  Supreme  Ruler  can  be  made  ; 
no  data  for  it,  not  the  slightest,  are  in  the  premises. 

Causation  is  the  controlling  idea.     The  simplest 


40  BEING    OF    GOD — FORMS    OF    PROOF. 

statement  of    this  law,  the    ground    in  science,   as 
often  understood,  of   every  other  law,  is,  Every  ef- 
fect must  have  a  cause.     This  law  involves  (i)  the 
duality  of  all  facts.       It  separates  them  into  phe- 
nomena and  noumena,  into  outward  expression  and 
inward   force,  into  effects  and    causes.     Mere  phe- 
nomena, mere  shadows  expressing  no  energies,  could 
be  interlocked   by   no  relation   of  causation.     This 
idea  also  involves  (2)  the  exact  equivalence  of  causes 
and  effects.     If  any  portion   of  the   cause   was  not 
expressed  in  the  effect,  or  any  portion  of  the  effect 
was  without  a    cause,  the    law  would   be    broken. 
Causes   may  be  combined  in   an   infinite  variety  of 
ways  with  a  corresponding  variety  of  phenomena, 
but  certain  effects,  and  no  other  effects,  are  always 
potentially  in  the  causes.      The    law    also    carries 
with  it  (3)  the  uniformity  of  nature   as   a   congeries 
of  causes.     These   causes  remaining  the  same  can 
produce  no  other  effects  than  those  which   now  be- 
long to  them.       But  causes    cannot  change   them- 
selves  within    their    own    circle,   for    that    change 
would  be  an   effect   without  a   cause.     Still  further 
the  notion  of  causation   includes  (4)   the   unbroken 
continuity  of  causes  and  effects  in  their  several   se- 
ries.    Otherwise  a  particular   cause   or  effect  might 
come  into  being  without  any  previous   cause  or  ef- 
fect, that  is  without  causation.     Hence  the  correla- 
tion   of   forces — their  indestructibility — is    a    corol- 
lary of  the  law  of  causation.     It   is  this  application 
of  the  law  that  most  interests  us,  since  by  means  of 
it  we  gain  our  control  of  things.     We   inquire   into 
antecedents  that  we  may  through  them  modify  con- 


THE    LAW    OF    CAUSATION.  41 

sequents.  We  are  quite  certain  that  no  force, 
either  in  aid  of  our  purposes  or  in  opposition  to 
them,  will  ever  disappear,  no  matter  how  great  a 
variety  of  forms  it  may  assume.  * 

This  notion  of  causation  some  rest  on  the  intu- 
itive apprehension  of  the  reason,  and  some  on  uni- 
versal experience.  Inwrought  as  it  is  in  our 
thoughts,  and  confirmed  by  our  daily  observation 
as  a  law  of  the  physical  world,  few  indeed  deny  it, 
whether  they  are,  or  are  not,  able  to  find  a  sufficient 
place  for  it  in  their  philosophy. 

Our  language  in  this  direction  is  very  comprehen- 
sive and  very  inexact ;  we   designate  causes  by  the 
effects  which  accompany  and  express  them,  and  so 
term  antecedent  effects  the  causes  of  subsequent 
ones.     The  reason  of  this   is  evident.      Effects  are 
the  sensible  marks  or  language   of  causes,  and  we 
have  no    approach   to    forces  or  true    causes,    save 
through  the  phenomena  which  indicate  them.    Thus 
a  collision  on  a  railroad  is  said  to  be  the  cause  of  the 
death  of  a  passenger,  while  both  the  accident  and 
the  injury  were   equally  manifestations  of  invisible 
forces.     Language  is.  so  exclusively  guided  by  the 
convenience  of  expression,  that  we  indicate  as  the 
cause  of  an  event  any  of  the  previous  effects  asso- 
ciated with  it   to  which  our  attention  is  especially 
drawn.     Thus  in  the  case  just  referred  to,  the  result 
may  be  attributed   to   the   forgetfulness   of  an  en- 
gineer,  or  to   an   error  in   a  telegram,  or  to  a  mis- 
placed switch.    Yet  speech,  in  all  its  wanderings  and 
vagueness,  keeps  somewhere  within  the  range  of  the 
conditions  and  efficient  forces  which  weave  events 
together. 


42         BEING  OF  GOD FORMS  OF  PROOF. 

With  this  notion  of  causation,  very  definite  within 
itself,  and  having  the  range  of  the  world  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  chance  and  of  liberty,  what  argument  can 
be  constructed  for  the  being  of  God  ?  We  answer, 
no  argument  that  offers  any  the  least  proof.  The 
results  reached  are  quite  the  reverse  of  those  sought 
for.  We  may  take  the  Universe  as  a  simple  physical 
fact.  It  presents  a  plexus  of  causes  and  effects. 
These  involve  previous  causes  and  effects,  and  these 
still  antecedent  ones.  We  may  affirm  that  we  are 
thus  led  up  to  a  First  Cause.  The  conclusion  is 
wholly  illegitimate  for  many  reasons.  If,  for  con- 
venience of  expression,  we  divide  the  ascent  to  a 
First  Cause  into  distinct  steps,  the  causes  in  each 
step  will  be  the  exact  equivalents  of  those  which 
precede  it,  and  those  which  follow  it.  No  move- 
ment backward  or  forward  alters  the  causes  dealt 
with  either  in  quantity  or  quality.  It  discloses 
them  as  divided  and  combined  in  a  great  variety 
of  ways,  as  assuming  many  new  and  striking  ap- 
pearances, but  never  as  different  either  in  nature  or 
amount  from  what  they  have  always  been,  (i) 
An  ascent,  therefore,  no  matter  how  far  continued, 
puts  no  change  on  the  face  of  the  facts,  and  brings 
us  no  nearer  their  ultimate  explanation.  (2)  If  we 
stop  at  any  point,  we  stop  arbitrarily.  The  causes 
we  have  chosen  stand  as  causes  in  no  different 
relations  from  those  already  passed  over.  Equally 
with  them  they  are  intermediate  between  previous 
and  subsequent  causes.  We  have  no  reason  for  the 
selection  nor  for  the  joint  designation,  First  Cause. 
(3)    By  such  a  conclusion  we  quite  subvert  the  very 


ARGUMENT    UNDER    CAUSATION.  43 

notion  of  causation  under  which  we  are  reasoning. 
For  a  time  we  are  content  to  move  backward 
under  the  guidance  of  this  notion  ;  at  length  we 
grow  weary,  and  win  the  opportunity  of  rest  by 
dismissing  our  guide.  (4)  A  First  Cause,  thus 
arbitrarily  affirmed,  can  be  neither  less  nor  more 
than  an  expression  of  all  the  causes  which  flow  from 
it.  It  must  have  the  same  relations  and  the  same 
measure  with  them.  If  we  put  a  person  in  place  of 
things,  it  is  a  deceptive  substitution  made  possible 
by  the  darkness  of  distance.  If  we  can  not  to-day, 
under  the  notion  of  causation,  bring  to  an  end  a 
series  of  events  in  a  person,  we  can  not  do  it  at  any 
point  in  time. 

If,  passing  by  purely  physical  events,  we  take 
man  in  his  intellectual  and  moral  nature  as  the 
premises  of  our  proof,  the  result  will  be  quite  the 
same.  We  have  still  no  other  idea  than  that  of 
causation  with  which  to  expound  that  nature,  or  its 
relation  to  the  world.  The  mind  of  man  is  enclosed 
on  every  side  with  physical  forces.  These  forces 
run  infinitely  further  back  than  it ;  they  float  it  like 
an  ocean ;  they  envelope  it  like  an  atmosphere. 
That  mind  and  that  moral  nature  are  only  a  pecu- 
liar combination  of  physical  forces,  one  among  the 
many  transitional  phases  which  forces  are  asuming. 
We  have  not,  therefore,  modified  materially  our 
premises  by  introducing  man  in  them  as  a  distinct 
consideration,  since  he  is  not  fundamentally  distinct 
from  that  general  physical  world  of  which  he  forms 
an  integral  part.  The  only  result  of  an  inquiry 
into  phenomenal  facts  of  any  order  under  this  notion 


44  BEING    OF    GOD — FORMS    OF     PROOF. 

of  causation  is  simply  an  eternity  of  forces, 
assuming  various  forms  under  laws,  the  results 
of  their  own  natures.  Such  is  the  theory  of  the 
universe  offered  in  Theism.  The  work  is  the 
more  notable  as  it  clearly  unfolds  the  conclu- 
sions which  are  contained  in  the  Empirical  Phil- 
osophy, and  defines  correctly  its  logical  issue. 
The  author  does  this  service  under  the  fitting 
cognomen  of  Physicus. 

The  volume  is  a  pathetic  expression  of  the 
impossibility  of  grasping  spirit  with  a  hand  of 
flesh  and  blood.  We  refer  to  it  simply  because 
it  puts  in  their  most  concise  and  vigorous 
form  the  current  grounds  of  unbelief.  If  the 
philosophical  premises  are  correct  from  which 
the  conclusions  are  drawn,  we  shall  hardly  es- 
cape the  conclusions  themselves.  But  these 
premises,  the  eternity  of  matter  and  the  per- 
sistence of  forces,  the  author  regards  as  ground- 
ed on  a  necessity  of  reason,  while  no  compe- 
tent judge,  he  thinks,  can  for  a  moment  hesitate 
to  accept  the  doctrine  of  evolution."  These 
results  are  indeed  the  legitimate  outcome  of 
the  philosophy  on  which  they  rest,  but  that 
philosophy  has  no  such  firm  footing  as  to 
make  it  wise  for  it  to  burden  itself  in  this 
way  with  the  weight  of  the  Universe.  Any 
argument  for  the  being  of  God,  so  far  as  it  is  sup- 
ported by  the  simple  notion  of  causation,  must  fail, 
for  this  idea  can  neither  expound  any  truly  spiritual 
creation,  nor  reach  the  origin  of  any  thing.     It  can 

*  Theism,  p.   106. 


ARGUMENT    UNDER    CAUSATION.  45 

not  lead  us  to  God,  nor  enable  us  to  apprehend  him 
should  we  be  so  fortunate  as  to  come  into  his  pres- 
ence. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    ARGUMENT    FOR    THE    BEING    OF  GOD    IN  OUTLINE. 

§  I.  It  should  not  be  difficult  for  us  to  discuss 
with  interest,  yet  with  candor,  the  ultimate  truths 
which  pertain  to  our  own  being,  and  to  every  form 
of  being  by  which  we  are  surrounded.  An  em- 
barrassment with  which  we  meet,  in  addition  to  the 
ordinary  infirmities  of  the  human  mind,  is  the  ex- 
traordinary number  of  very  important  scientific 
theories  which  are  seeking  extension  over  a  field 
that  does  not  properly  belong  to  them,  and  which, 
from  their  great  intrinsic  interest  and  truthfulness 
in  certain  directions,  call  forth  ardent  defence  even 
when  enlarged  into  universal  laws.  Yet  if  the  fol- 
lowing expression  of  feeling  by  one  who  is  laboring 
to  bring  forward  the  result  so  profoundly  to  be 
deprecated,  finds  any  extended  response  among  men, 
it  should  at  least  carry  with  it  a  willingness  to  cau- 
tiously review  even  the  earlier  premises  of  our 
reasoning,  that  we  may  reach,  if  truth  allows  it, 
conclusions  more  consonant  with  human  hopes. 
"  And  so  far  as  the  ruination  of  individual  happi- 
ness is  concerned,  no  one  can  have  a  more  lively 
perception  than  myself  of   the  possibly  disastrous 

46 


FEELING    CALLED    OUT.  47 

tendency  of  my  work.  So  far  as  I  am  individually 
concerned,  the  result  of  this  analysis  has  been  to 
show  that,  whether  I  regard  the  problem  of  Theism 
on  the  lower  plane  of  strictly  relative  probability, 
or  on  the  higher  plane  of  purely  formal  considera- 
tions, it  equally  becomes  my  obvious  duty  to  stifle 
all  belief  of  the  kind  which  I  conceive  to  be  the 
noblest,  and  to  discipline  my  intellect  with  regard 
to  this  matter  into  an  attitude  of  the  purest  scep- 
ticism. And  forasmuch  as  I  am  far  from  being  able 
to  agree  with  those  who  affirm  that  the  twilight 
doctrine  of  the  '  new  faith  '  is  a  desirable  substitute 
for  the  waning  splendors  of  '  the  old,'  I  am  not 
ashamed  to  confess  that  with  this  virtual  negation 
of  God,  the  universe  to  me  has  lost  its  soul  of  love- 
liness ;  and  although  from  henceforth  the  precept 
to  '  work  while  it  is  day '  will  doubtless  but  gain  an 
intensified  force  from  the  terribly  intensified  mean- 
ing of  the  words,  that  '  the  night  cometh  when  no 
man  can  work  ; '  yet  when  at  times  I  think,  as  think 
at  times  I  must,  of  the  appalling  contrast  between 
the  hallowed  glory  of  that  creed  which  once  was 
mine,  and  the  lonely  mystery  of  existence  as  now  I 
find  it, — at  such  times  I  shall  ever  feel  it  impossible 
to  avoid  the  sharpest  pang  of  which  my  nature  is 
susceptible."  * 

We  hope  in  this  discussion  not  to  accept  either  in 
premises  or  in  methods  anything  unscientific,  but 
we  have  no  wish  and  no  expectation  to  commend 
our  results  to  those  who  judge  the  scientific  and  the 
unscientific  by  a  narrow  empiricism.  The  errors 
and  darkness  into  which  we  have  fallen,  have  arisen 

*  Theism,  p.  114. 


4§  ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 

from  a  very  limited  induction,  subsequently  ex- 
tended by  a  very  sweeping  deduction.  We  shall 
regard  the  facts  of  mind — as  they  lie  within  experi- 
ence open  to  rational  statement  and  analysis — as 
possessed  of  the  same  scientific  value  as  those  of 
matter,  and  quite  as  capable  of  a  legitimate  en- 
largement by  deduction  into  laws  of  the  universe. 
The  two  methods  issuing  in  theism  and  atheism, 
separate  very  early  in  their  statement  of  the  facts 
of  matter  and  mind.  The  one  method  with  a 
wiser  and  more  truly  scientific  induction,  as  we 
think,  interprets  mind  by  mind,  and  so  establishes 
two  planes  of  law.  The  other  occupies  itself  with 
matter  and  surreptitiously  carries  over  its  laws  to 
mind,  and  so  issues  in  the  loss  of  the  chief  con- 
structive element  in  the  universe.  While  stating 
as  concisely  as  possible  the  contrasted  laws  of  mat- 
ter and  mind,  and  avoiding  as  far  as  possible 
psychological  discussions,  we  must  none  the  less 
bring  freshly  before  us  these  preliminary  truths. 
Argument  in  the  face  of  the  sweeping  assumptions 
of  the  so-called  "  scientific  method  "  is  quite  im- 
possible. 

§  2.  From  the  notion  of  causation,  guided  and 
confirmed  by  experience  in  the  physical  world,  there 
arise  three  conclusions,  all  of  them  exceedingly  in- 
fluential in  an  ultimate  philosophy.  The  first  is  the 
indestructibility  of  matter  and  force.  These  two — ■ 
matter  and  force — are  the  complete  expression  of 
causal  energies  in  the  world,  and  neither  of  them 
can  be  diminished  or  increased  in  harmony  with 
this  law.     They  may  pass  through  many  modifica- 


ETERNITY    OF    MATTER.  49 

tions,  but  in  their  own  circuits,  under  their  own 
units  of  measurement,  they  remain  the  same.  The 
static  energies  of  material  things,  as  expressed  in 
weight,  no  matter  how  often  modified  in  form  by 
new  combinations,  and  the  dynamic  energies  of 
forces,  as  shown  by  units  of  work,  no  matter 
through  what  diverse  stages  of  activity  they  may 
pass,  remain  the  same,  and  may  be  returned  to  their 
first  expression. 

A  second  conclusion,  which  is  hardly  more  than 
an  extension  of  the  first  conclusion,  is  the  eternity 
of  matter  and  force,  or  the  eternity  of  static  and 
dynamic  energies.  For  the  same  reason  that  the 
universe  of  to-day  is  that  of  yesterday  and  of  the 
day  before,  it  is  also  the  universe  of  any  period, 
no  matter  how  remote.  The  laws  of  nature  do  not 
expire  by  limitation.  The  facts  of  to-day  in  sub- 
stance are  identical  with  those  of  a  thousand  years 
since  under  this  simple  principle  of  causation. 

A  third  conclusion  equally  certain  is  that  of  evo- 
lution in  its  direct  form.  Grant  the  universal  ap- 
plication of  the  law  of  causation,  and  all  subse- 
quent modifications  of  effects  are  the  products  of 
antecedent  causes,  no  matter  how  obscure  and  com- 
plicated the  connectives  or  unexpected  the  appear- 
ances. The  law  never  lets  up,  and  the  obscurities 
of  its  transitions  are  simple  obscurities,  nothing 
more.  The  principle  being  granted  as  universal, 
the  conclusion  is  inevitable.  Any  apparent  escape 
from  it  is  simply  the  vacillation  of  the  eye  unable  to 
follow  the  light. 

The  more  boldly  and  the  more  baldly  these  con- 


50  ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 

elusions  are  stated  and  recognized  the  better,  since 
we  shall  thus  see  the  more  quickly  how  much  too 
narrow  they  are  for  the  exposition  of  the  Universe 
of  which  man  is  a  part.  Let  Empirical  Philosophy 
hasten  to  its  logical  results,  for  these  are  its  over- 
throw. It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  evolu- 
tion must  exclude  final  causes.  Efficient  causes, 
existing  as  eternal  forces,  control  all  things.  The 
energies  of  the  Universe,  like  those  of  a  torrent, 
come  pouring  out  of  the  past  and  simply  spread 
out  and  over  the  future  as  an  open  field.  Guid- 
ance, direction,  shaping  conditions  of  all  sorts  are 
already  within  them.  They  neither  call  for  nor 
are  capable  of  any  modification  toward  any  end 
whatever.  "  The  argument  from  a  proximate  tele- 
ology must  be  regarded  as  no  longer  having  any 
rational  existence."*  The  mind  that  would  grasp 
the  truth  should  look  steadfastly  at  these  all  em- 
bracing, invisible  forces,  till  a  sense  of  their  supreme 
energy  has  settled  deeply  into  it,  till  the  ghostly 
shadows  of  human  liberty  and  human  powers  have 
glided  away  like  a  dream,  and  till  the  too  volatile 
and  sanguine  thoughts  have  accepted  these  facts  of 
the  world  stamped  upon  them  and  burned  into 
them  like  a  brand.  The  vagrancy  of  the  mind,  its 
illogical  combination  of  inconsistent  views,  are  the 
causes  which  delay  the  decision  of  these  ultimate 
questions.  Men  would  extinguish  more  reluctantly 
the  light  of  their  own  spiritual  nature,  did  they  not 
secretly  believe  that  they  could  relight  it  again  at 
pleasure  for  their  own  ends. 

A  universe  of  this  sort,  that  is  seen  to  be  what  it 

*  Theism,  p.    106. 


ETERNITY    OF    MATTER.  5  I 

logically  is,  simple  forces  flowing  out  of  eternity 
into  eternity,  in  which  human  hopes  and  human  ef- 
forts— the  whole  spiritual  world  in  its  thought  and 
affections — are  deceptive  shadows  of  physical  things, 
can  offer  no  such  solution  of  the  problems  of  the 
Universe  to  one  who  has  accepted  the  injunction, 
"  Know  thyself,"  as  to  preclude  a  fresh  opening  of 
the  entire  question. 

§  3.  If  the  law  of  causation  is  as  broad  as  it  is 
thought  to  be,  theistic  arguments  are  certainly  ill 
taken,  but  this  is  by  no  means  the  sum  of  our  loss  ; 
it  is  only  one  feature  in  a  general  shipwreck.  The 
entire  nature  of  man,  his  moral,  intellectual  and 
productive  action  in  the  world  are  so  profoundly 
modified  that  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  explain  in 
any  direction  the  most  familiar  experience.  The 
energy  of  every  effort  gives  way,  the  light  of  every 
hope  fades  out.  The  spiritual  kingdom — the  cor- 
relative kingdom  to  that  of  purely  physical  facts — 
has  been  by  far  too  much  narrowed  in  statement  by 
the  prominence  given  to  the  freedom  of  the  will. 
No  one  power  can  act  on  a  plane  quite  by  itself 
and  retain  efficiency  or  carry  with  it  conviction. 
This  power  must  be  sustained  and  enlarged  by  many 
kindred  powers  and  give  the  mind  the  ground  for 
its  comprehension  by  many  and  extended  analogies. 
There  is  an  entire  kingdom  overlying  the  physical 
kingdom,  in  which  the  law  of  causation  is  replaced 
by  that  of  spontaneous  power. 

Words  are  ill-defined  in  this  direction,  and  greatly 
aid  the  confusion  of  thought.  On  the  one  side  are 
cause  and  effect,  implying  measured  physical  forces  ; 


52  ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 

on  the   other,  agent    and    action,    involving   power 

*  strictly  potential.  While  an  agent  in  the  higher 
meaning  of  the  word  performs  an  action  by  a  me- 
diation of  physical  forces,  the  combining  spiritual 
element   in  the  action   is   referable    finally   to    the 

v  agent  himself.  The  action  may  appear  in  the  ex- 
ternal world  or  it  may  remain  in  the  intellectual 
world,  being  simply  associated  in  an  inscrutable 
way  with  obscure  nervous  activities,  but  in  either 
case   the  peculiar  guiding  element   is  not  the  pro- 

/-duct  of  causation.  This  energy  of  combination 
and  direction,  which  is  not  itself  a  physical  force, 
but  operative  in  these  forces  and  through  them,  we 

N  term  spontaneity.  The  words  cause  and  causation 
have  indeed  traveled  all  through  the  realm  of  super- 
physical  activity  to  the  confusion  if  not  to  the 
oversight  in  the  thoughts  of  man  of  these  cardinal 
distinctions.  A  man  is  a  cause  of  his  thoughts  and 
actions  in  quite  another  sense  from  that  in  which 
a  rain  is  a  cause  of  a  freshet. 

One  of  the  earliest  forms  in  which  this  new,  this 
plastic  power  appears  is  life.  Life  is  a  combining 
element.  It  uses  many  physical  forces  ;  it  cannot 
take  its  place  as  one  among  them,  nor  is  it  simply 
another  name  for  them.  Physical  forces,  and  this 
is  a  cardinal  fact  in  causation,  have  a  fully  realized 
existence,  definite  directions  and  modes  of  action, 
fixed  relations  to  matter.  Though  they  may  pass 
in  expression  from  form  to  form,  they  ever  have 
some  form,  locality,  relation.  While  we  cannot  as 
yet  perfectly  define  all  the  forces  which  appear  in 
the  action  of  a  living  thing,  as   a  tree,  these   forces 


NATURE    OF    LIFE.  53 

have  doubtless  specific  methods  of  existence  and 
definable  physical  dependencies.  Such  distinctly 
related  activities  are  what  we  mean  by  forces.  Life 
itself  can  not  be  any  one  of  these  forces,  since  no 
definite  force  among  forces  can  combine  and  use 
all  forces.  In  so  doing  it  would  disappear  as  one 
force  and  reappear  as  all  forces.  It  is  not  another 
force  that  is  called  for,  but  a  plastic  power  over 
forces,  using  them  under  certain  laws  for  certain 
ends. 

We  may  with  Huxley  deny  the  existence  of  life. 
We  may  affirm  that  vitality  is  no  more  called  for 
to  account  for  living  things,  each  in  its  order,  than 
aquosity  is  called  for  to  explain  the  properties  of 
water.  But  the  assertion  seems  to  be  made 
simply  because  of  the  inscrutable  character  of  life, 
and  not  because  there  are  here  no  peculiar  phe- 
nomena that  require  explanation.  The  living  thing 
is  a  very  peculiar  thing,  and  that  peculiarity  lies 
not  so  much  in  new  forces  as  in  their  new  and 
variable  combinations.  We  can  not,  as  in  the  case 
of  iron,  air,  water,  define  the  properties  involved, 
and  thereby  exhaust  the  problem.  This  would  be 
to  overlook  the  very  thing  that  invited  our  atten- 
tion, to  wit,  the  changing  relations  of  the  forces 
within  themselves.  If  we  deny  life  as  a  separate 
something,  what  is  the  result  ?  The  living  thing  is 
no  more  than  the  dead  thing  ;  the  living  man  than 
the  dead  man.  Different  forms  of  life  involve  no 
distinct  principles.  Protoplasm  expresses  nothing 
more  than  organic  matter,  and  man  nothing  more 
than  protoplasm.     We  cannot  speak  of  the  law   of 


54  ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 

inheritance,  for  there  is  nothing  to  be  inherited. 
Water  and  air  pass  nothing  by  inheritance.  Plainly, 
then,  life  in  its  many  forms  is  a  necessity  of  thought ; 
we  cannot  discuss  living  things  without  it.  But 
life  can  neither  be  one  physical  force  nor  all  physi- 
cal forces,  for  either  view  leaves  out  its  true  func- 
tion of  combination.  It  must  be  a  plastic  power 
which  expresses  itself  in  and  through  many  physical 
forces,  otherwise  independent  of  it.  Herein  it  is 
allied  to  mind. 

Do  these  plastic  powers  come  under  the  law  of 
causation?  We  think  not.  (i)  They  have  none 
of  the  characteristics  of  specific  forces.  They  are 
not  realized  in  direction,  position,  form,  volume. 
They  can  not,  therefore,  drop  into  place  among 
forces  under  the  law  of  correlation.  (2)  The  speci- 
fic forms  of  activity  within  the  living  body  may  be 
defined,  while  life  itself  remains  undefined.  After 
every  specific  force  has  been  deducted,  and  the 
whole  interplay  of  causation  been  exhausted,  life 
remains  as  something  not  included  in  the  estimate. 
(3)  Life  obviously  does  not  conform  in  its  propa- 
gation to  simple  causation.  One  acorn  may  be  the 
source  of  a  million  acorns,  having  the  same  effici- 
ency with  itself.  A  million  acorns  may  perish  and 
leave  behind  them  no  residuum  of  forces  referable 
to  the  life  in  them.  No  expression  in  force  has 
been  obtained  for  the  plastic  power  of  life,  nor  is  it 
conceivable  that  there  should  be,  since  no  distinct 
measurable  force  could  do  the  infinitely  varied  work 
expressed  by  vitality.  (4)  This  plastic  power  is 
transmissible   and   modifiable   in  descent   in  a  way 


NATURE    OF     LIFE.  55 

quite  peculiar.  Physical  forces  subject  to  causation 
are  capable  indeed  of  many  combinations,  but  they 
return  readily  in  a  simple  way  to  their  first  terms. 
In  life  the  first  term  is  often  entirely  lost  in  evolu- 
tion, and  the  several  stages  and  terms  can  be  ap- 
proached no  otherwise  than  through  the  laws  of 
variation  and  inheritance  which  first  produced  them, 
if  indeed  they  can  be  reached  at  all.  These  laws 
are  laws  quite  peculiar  to  living  things,  and  receive 
no  sufficient  explanation  under  causal  dependencies. 
We  cannot  divide  and  compound  plastic  powers, 
nor  express  their  action  by  additions  and  subtrac- 
tions, as  if  they  were  a  simple  congeries  of  physical 
forces.  The  facts  are  peculiar  and  the  laws  are 
peculiar.  No  definable  causes  cover  them.  The 
belief  that  they  do  is  not  an  induction,  it  i?  simply 
the  momentum  of  an  induction  in  one  field  expended 
in  another  field. 

We  might  indeed  be  tempted  to  attribute  this 
difficulty  in  the  comprehension  of  life  under  the 
laws  of  causation  to  the  obscurity  of  the  terms,  did 
not  the  problem  assume  a  new  and  more  pronounced 
form  when  we  pass  on  to  consciousness,  and  so  up 
to  mental  processes.  By  the  growth  of  the  new 
tendencies,  we  see  at  once  that  we  are  not  merely 
on  the  bounds  of  the  old  kingdom,  but  have  entered 
within  the  limits  of  a  new  one. 

§  4.  It  is  impossible  to  tell  how  low  down  in  ani- 
mal life  the  simplest  facts  of  consciousness  arise. 
We  are  more  likely  to  refer  them  to  an  origin  too 
early  than  one  too  late,  since  the  external  appear- 
ance of  actions  ordered  instinctively  are  quite  the 


56  ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 

same  with  that  due  to  a  conscious  experience. 
Plainly  such  an  experience,  no  matter  how  low  it 
may  penetrate,  plays  no  important  part  except  in 
the  higher  animals.  The  first  terms  of  conscious- 
ness are  sensations  and  memory.  Sensations  when 
varied  are  combined  by  memory  into  an  experience, 
which  becomes  a  new  and  influential  term  in  action. 
But  conscious  states  from  their  very  origin  are  not 
explicable  under  the  laws  of  causation.  An  activity 
of  the  nervous  system  accompanies  them  it  is  true, 
but  we  have  no  known  way,  or  hint  of  a  way,  by 
which  states  of  consciousness,  as  expressions  of 
forces,  can  be  dropped  in  as  definable  terms  in  this 
circuit  of  physical  action.  Physical  states  flow  into 
physical  states,  and  there  is  no  break  between  them, 
no  room  for  the  insertion  of  a  new  spiritual  effici- 
ency contained  in  the  terms  of  consciousness.  We 
might  as  well  look  for  noumena  wedged  in  between 
phenomena.  If  we  could  trace  exactly  the  entire 
series  of  effects  by  which  stimuli,  received  at  the 
senses,  pass  through  the  nervous  system,  and,  with 
the  presence  of  conscious  states,  return  as  modifica- 
tions of  the  muscles,  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose 
that,  the  series  would  present  itself  otherwise  than 
as  a  succession  of  purely  physical  facts.  We  can 
conceive — and  here  the  word  is  in  order,  for  we  are 
speaking  of  that  which  is  phenomenal — of  no  form  of 
physical  action  intervening  at  any  point  in  the  cir- 
cuit which  would  offer  itself  as  a  conscious  state,  or 
even  as  the  physical  representative  of  such  a  state. 
We  have  no  proof  of  the  existence  of  any  force 
which  is  the  force  of  a  state  in  consciousness.      The 


NATURE    OF    MIND.  57 

phenomena  of  consciousness  seem  to  be  supernu- 
merary to  the  physical  forces  to  whose  activity  they 
are  incident.  We  know  not  how  a  physical  fact  is 
converted  into  a  conscious  state,  as  for  example  the 
condition  of  our  affairs  into  our  thoughts  about 
them  ;  nor  how  the  inner  state  reappears  in  the 
outer  action,  as  the  plan  of  yesterday  in  the  exer- 
tion of  to-day.  A  mind-force,  both  in  its  mode  of 
existence  and  in  its  transfer,  is  unintelligible,  an  as- 
sertion beyond  any  proof  or  any  hint  yet  offered  by 
experience.  The  only  way  in  which  such  a  force 
can  be  inserted  in  the  continuous  series  of  physical 
effects  incident  to  nervous  activity  is  by  assuming 
the  identity  of  a  feeling  or  a  thought  with  one  or 
others  of  these  physical  effects  already  present. 
This  assumption  is  so  far  from  being  an  explana- 
tion, that  it  is  in  itself  quite  unintelligible,  and 
leaves  the  physical  facts  untouched  in  their  interior 
completeness.  As  far  as  comprehension  is  concern- 
ed, we  might  as  well  affirm  that  the  attendant  con- 
scious state  is  the  pin  which  pricks  us,  as  that  it  is 
the  molecular  changes  induced  by  the  pin.  It  is 
not  experience  at  this  point  that  confirms  the  prin- 
ple  of  causation,  it  is  the  purely  a  priori  force  of 
the  principle  which  is  allowed  to  crowd  upon  us 
an  explanation  so  inapt  of  the  terms  of  experience. 
When  the  limits  of  the  physical  kingdom  are  reached, 
forces,  and  with  them  causation,  disappear.  All  the 
affirmation  that  experience,  in  a  case  like  this,  en- 
titles us  to  is  that  of  an  inscrutable  connection  be- 
tween two  series  of  facts,  a  mental  and  a  physical 
one,   each    apparently   complete   within    itself,   and 


58  ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 

subject  to  its  own  laws  of  sequence.  The  physical 
circuit  has  fully  expressed  itself  in  every  stage  as 
some  form  of  motion  or  combination,  the  intellec- 
tual circuit  as  some  form  of  feeling  or  thought  or 
volition,  realized  in  consciousness  by  virtue  of  a 
mental  power,  and  united  in  conduct  by  a  rational 
law.  The  pin-prick  may  be  endured  with  composure 
or  resented  with  anger,  according  to  the  terms  of 
the  consciousness  into  which  it  is  received. 

§  5.  This  brings  us  to  the  great  central  fact  in  the 
interpretation  of  the  universe,  the  laws  of  thought. 
These  are  not  the  laws  of  matter,  nor  the  shadow 
of  those  laws.  They  are  something  as  primitive  as 
those  laws,  nay,  more  primitive.  They  are  distinct 
principles  of  connection  between  most  distinct  phe- 
nomena. As  the  proof  for  the  being  of  God  can 
be  successfully  pursued  only  under  the  Intuitive 
Philosophy,  the  argument  is  properly  entitled  to  the 
support  of  all  the  principles  of  that  philosophy. 
No  intuitive  process  can  proceed  without  guiding 
ideas,  and  these  ideas,  therefore,  as  those  of  iden- 
tity, sameness,  causation,  are  antecedent  to  the  ex- 
perience they  illuminate.  It  is  the  mind  that  brings 
comprehension  to  things,  not  things  that  light  up 
the  mind  with  comprehension.  This  is  seen  in  the 
completeness  and  certainty  of  the  convictions  which 
underlie  experience.  The  equalities  of  mathematics 
are  absolute  equalities.  Its  units  are  exactly  com- 
mensurate with  each  other.  Its  circles  are  perfect 
circles.  Its  lines  are  without  error,  and  require  no 
interpretation  of  experience  to  define  their  relations 
to  each  other.      Not  one  in  a  thousand  causes  has 


INTUITIVE    TRUTHS.  59 

been  measured  in  its  effects  by  man,  and  these 
measurements  have  rarely  been  definite  enough  to 
establish  any  exact  equivalence.  Yet  the  notion  of 
causation,  present  as  a  term  of  interpretation  quite 
interior  to  all  phenomena,  affirms  itself  as  an  exact 
and  universal  law  of  the  physical  world.  It  brings 
its  own  force  to  the  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
facts,  it  does  not  derive  it  from  them.  The  mental 
conceptions  quite  transcend  in  completeness  the 
physical  experiences  to  which  they  apply, — or  the 
mind's  knowledge  of  those  facts — and  are  often 
coherentlv  developed,  as  in  geometry  and  logic,  far 
in  advance  of  physical  inquiry.  Nor  have  these 
truths  been  the  slow  deposit  of  the  mass  of  minds 
under  protracted  experience,  but  a  sudden  uplift  of 
thought  in  a  few,  dimly  shared,  if  shared  at  all, 
by  the  many.  The  completeness  and  necessity  of 
these  mental  ideas  and  laws  quite  distinguish  them 
from  the  products  of  experience,  from  that  knowledge 
which  arises  certainly  and  manifestly  as  the  result 
of  an  inquiry  into  things.  We  can  not  fail  to  see 
that  there  is  a  wide  difference  between  the  proofs  of 
geometry  and  the  conclusions  arrived  at  in  practical 
engineering.  Nor  has  the  Empirical  Philosophy 
been  able  either  to  soften  or  explain  this  distinction. 
The  clearness  of  the  one  movement  remains  attribu- 
table to  its  purely  mental  character,  the  obscurity 
of  the  other  to  its  dependence  on  the  senses,  to  its 
relation  to  facts.  Facts  at  once  cut  down  the  men- 
tal light. 

No  less  distinct  are  the  connections  of  judgments 
from  the  connections  of  facts.     Thoughts  cohere  in 


60  ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 

one  way,  things  in  another.     The  laws  of  deduction 
— and  the  same  is  true  of  induction,  so  far  as  in- 
duction is  simple  reasoning — are  most  freely  applied 
when  the  terms,  as  indicating  particular  things,  are 
overlooked.    The  laws  of  the  syllogism  need  no  illus- 
tration  in  things.      They  are   not  to   be   aided  by 
object-teaching.     Indeed,  they  begin  to  limp  at  once 
in   their  application   to   actual  objects,    because  of 
the   imperfection   of    our  knowledge   as   dependent 
on  observation.     Things  are   united  by  causal   rela- 
tions.    These  are  the  only  relations  which  make  one 
event  follow  another — which  connect  antecedent  and 
subsequent   states  of  brain  with  each  other.     The 
mental  connections   of  equality,  identity,  likeness, 
have  no   force   in   matter,  save  through   causation. 
They  do   not   determine   the   real   dependencies  of 
things.     Strive  to   identify  those  laws   of  thought 
by  which  conclusions  arise  from  premises,  both  being 
held   before  the   mind   under  pure    mental    vision, 
with  causation,  and  what  is  the  result?     States  of 
brain  follow   each   other   causally ;    that   causal  de- 
pendence is  assumed  to  be  the  basis  of  the  laws  of 
thought.      There   is   in   this  assertion   not   only  no 
explanation,   it   is    itself    wholly  incomprehensible. 
That   an  efficiency    between   physical  facts — an  ef- 
ficiency which   the   eye   can   not   reach,   but   which 
is   itself  a  product  of  mental  insight — becomes  an 
inner  law  of  thought,  is  an  assertion  equally  beyond 
the  scope  of  experience  and  reason.     It  is  one  which 
finds  no  basis  either  in  clear  induction  or  deduction. 
Farther,  it  is  an  assertion  at  once  self-destructive. 
If  the  combinations  of  thought  are  identical  with 


FINAL     CAUSES.  6 1 

the  causal  relations  which  lie  between  physical  facts, 
then,  since  all  sequences  are  equally  real,  all  thoughts 
must  be  equally  true.  A  physical  effect  always 
involves  a  sufficient  cause,  and  so  the  distinction  of 
1  rue  and  untrue  does  not  lie  between  facts  as  facts. 
The  only  division  here  is  into  actual  and  imaginary. 
No  more,  therefore,  could  this  distinction  of  true 
and  untrue  hold  between  conclusions,  if  conclusions 
express  simple  physical  sequences.  Everything  that 
is  has  a  sufficient  cause  and  is  real,  everything  that 
is  not  has  no  cause  and  is  not  real.  Here  is  an  end. 
The  division  of  truth  and  falsehood  lapses  into  that 
of  being  and  not  being.  The  assertion,  therefore, 
that  mental  connections  are  in  any  way  the  counter- 
parts of  physical  ones  is  self-destructive,  since  it 
sweeps  away  the  very  distinction  involved  in  itself, 
to  wit,  that  of  the  true  and  the  false.  One  set  of  con- 
clusions is  one  series  of  effects  in  one  type  of  brain, 
another  set  is  another  series  in  a  second  type  of 
brain,  and  any  comparison  between  them  a  third 
series  by  itself,  while  all  three  as  facts  are  equally 
real  and  equally  akin  to  a  true  mental  process. 

Another  law  of  mind  is  expressed  in  final  causes. 
Efficient  causes  belong  to  matter.  Here  they  as- 
sume that  exact  expression  and  permanent  form 
which  make  them  manageable  terms  to  mind. 
Final  causes,  on  the  other  hand,  pertain  exclusively 
to  mind.  They  are  the  accompaniment  of  its  fore- 
cast. History,  human  action,  cannot  be  explained 
without  these  shaping  purposes,  which  constitute 
the  distinctive  features  of  rational  life.  An  effort 
to  write  history  without  them  would  be  absurdly 


62  ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 

ineffectual.  The  fixedness  of  efficient  causes  and 
the  flexibility  of  final  ones  are  first  terms  in 
human  history.  The  effort  to  exclude  final  causes 
from  physical  inquiries  is  simply  an  effort  to  ex- 
clude mind  as  a  primary  element  from  the  universe. 
If  it  were  successful,  we  should  find  no  repetition  in 
the  Universe  as  a  whole  of  those  conditions  which 
characterize  the  highest  portions  of  it.  We  must 
indeed  freely  admit  that  a  hasty  assertion  of  final 
causes  has  tended  to  limit  and  to  exclude  most  need- 
ful inquiries  into  efficient  causes,  and  so  greatly  to 
belittle  the  whole  conception  of  the  world.  Science 
has  not  therefore  without  grave  reason  found  it- 
self inimical  to  final  causes,  and  to  the  wholly  in- 
adequate explanations  that  have  sprung  from  them. 
But  error  rarely  belongs  to  one  side  only.  It  must 
be  guarded  against  on  both  sides. 

Very  remote  and  comprehensive  ends,  when 
sought  by  general  laws,  necessarily  give  great  prom- 
inence to  efficient  causes,  and  exclude  the  idea 
that  each  incident  of  the  general  movement  can  be 
made  a  subject  of  distinct  decree  aside  from  its  re- 
lation to  the  whole.  The  interior  inquiry,  in  such  a 
system,  will  be  primarily  one  of  efficient  causes, 
while  the  exterior  one,  penetrating  however  to  the 
heart  of  the  whole,  will  have  reference  to  final  causes. 
The  distinction  of  means  and  ends  must  hold  if  the 
universe  is  in  any  way  the  product  of  mind.  Noth- 
ing but  an  arbitrary  judgment  can  antecedently 
settle  this  question  against  mind,  and  relegate  the 
universe  to  matter  alone.  When  we  look  broadly 
at  the  facts  of  the  Universe,  and  find  them  to  be 


LIBERTY.  63 

concurrent  and  constructive,  marvelously  so,  we 
have  the  same  rational  right  to  recognize  that  fact 
and  emphasize  it,  that  we  have  to  observe  and  ex- 
plain any  other  fact,  the  most  physical.  The  pres- 
ence of  such  constructive  relations  in  the  Universe  is 
the  subject  of  inquiry  offered  to  Natural  Theology, 
and  no  antecedent  principle  either  of  science  or  of 
philosophy  is  opposed  to  it.  The  presumptions  lie 
in  quite  the  opposite  direction.  Final  causes  play 
a  most  important  part  in  human  action.  As  this 
action  is  the  highest  type  the  world  offers,  it  would 
be  strange  indeed  if  it  gave  no  principle  serviceable 
in  our  ultimate  problems.  This  feeling  against  final 
causes  is  ultimately  rooted  in  the  hasty  conviction, 
that  matter  not  mind  gives  the  key  of  the  world. 
The  practical  principles  are  that  we  are  to  exercise 
caution  in  the  introduction  of  final  causes  into  a 
cosmical  philosophy,  and  that  these  causes  are  to  be 
expounded  constantly  in  connection  with  the  efficient 
causes  which  are  included  in  them.  The  immediate 
explanation  is  in  these,  the  remote  and  more  in- 
clusive one  in  those. 

A  last  peculiar  law  of  mind,  which  is  only  the 
latest  product  and  expression  of  the  laws  now  refer- 
red to,  is  that  of  liberty.  We  shall  not  revive  a  dis- 
cussion of  which  the  world  is  somewhat  weary.  We 
have  done  elsewhere  what  we  could  to  clear  up  its 
difficulties.  The  notion  of  liberty  has  suffered  very 
much  from  a  treatment  too  isolated.  This  is  not 
a  single  distinct  power  unallied  to  other  powers  and 
unsupported  by  them.  It  is  only  the  highest  ex- 
pression of  that  spontaneous  power  which  belongs 


64  ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 

to  all  thought.  If  the  moral  world  can  not  be  ex- 
pounded without  liberty,  neither  can  the  intellectual 
world  without  spontaneity,  that  power  of  mind  which 
reaches  and  justifies  its  own  conclusions. 

We  readily  admit  that  we  can  do  nothing  in 
Natural  Theology  if  these  fundamental  convictions 
of  the  mind  are  not  legitimate.  Yet  the  fact  mat- 
ters little.  Having  lost  intelligent  thought,  having 
lost  responsible  action,  having  lost  ourselves,  it  is 
quite  of  course  that  we  have  also  lost  God.  If  we 
are  drowned  in  the  sea,  the  sun  will  go  out  in 
darkness. 

Very  many  arguments  made  for  the  being  of 
God,  like  those  of  Paley,  mingle  the  ideas  of  causa- 
tion and  spontaneity  in  a  way  very  obscure,  and  true 
to  neither  of  the  two  conceptions:  they  therefore 
hold,  and  do  not  hold.  They  hold,  at  least  in  part, 
if  we  grant  them  a  liberally  corrected  construction  ; 
they  do  not  hold,  if  we  press  them  closely  under 
the  obscure  language  and  contradictory  notions  they 
involve.  Taking  to  ourselves  with  a  firm  hand  and 
clear  assertion  the  powers  and  laws  of  mind  as  fully 
correlative  with  the  forces  and  laws  of  matter,  how 
does  the  argument  stand  ?  What  is  the  most 
rational  solution  of  the  problem  offered  by  the 
universe  ? 

§  6.  To  bind  ourselves  closely  to  the  purely  formal 
conditions  of  an  experience  which  has  arisen  within 
the  limitations  of  a  finite  existence,  and  to  attempt 
by  these  terms  alone  to  interpret  the  Infinite  is 
plainly  absurd.  This  would  be  to  prove  the  proper- 
ties  of  a   transcendental  curve   by  actual   measure- 


DEPENDENCE    OF    MATTER     AND    MIND.  6$ 

ments.     The  inquiry  must  be  made  more  broadly, 
more  rationally,  more  truly  under  its  own  conditions. 
The  question  is  not  this,  Do  we,  as  a  sensible  fact, 
within  the  circuit  of  our  observation,  find  mind  prior 
to  matter  ?  but  this,  Do  the  laws  of  matter  impose 
themselves  on   mind,  or  does  mind  under  its   own 
laws  lay  hold  of  and  employ  those  of  matter  ?     If  s 
the   order  we   find  in    thoughts  and    feelings   is   in- 
duced  in  them   by  physical  causation,  then   in  this 
direction  lies  all  the  coherence  of  the  world  ;  but  if 
thought   and   feeling,  with  laws   of   their  own,  work 
their  own  ends  through  the  laws  of  matter,  then  the 
coherence  of  the  world  is  that  of  reason.     If  we  are  * 
to  determine  the  fitness  of  matter  or  of  mind  to  be 
an   ultimate    term,   the   mere  time-sequence   in   our 
own  period  goes  for  very  little.     It  would  be  quite 
preposterous  to  say  that  a  personal  God  must  have 
created  mind  before  matter.     On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  quite  plain  that  finite  mind  being  subject  to  the 
most  complicated  dependencies  on  matter,  must  ap- 
pear subsequently  to  it,  and  largely  subject  to  it,  in  a 
rational  creation.     The  relation  of  guidance  bet\veenN 
mind   and   matter,  is   on   the  other   hand,  the  truly 
significant  term  ;  it  is  this  which  discloses  ultimate 
relations.     The  boat  precedes  the  boatman,  nor  can 
it  be  steered  beyond   the  water  ;  none  the   less  the 
boatman  explains  the  boat. 

The  spontaneity  of  mind  avails  to  free  it  from  thev 
direct  control  of  matter,  while  the  causal  dependen- 
cies  of  things  only  put  them   the  more   completely 
under  the  guidance  of  reason.     The  control  of  mind' 
by  physical  conditions  is  insanity,  is  madness;  the 


66 


ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 


control  of  matter  by  mind  is  sanity,  is  rationality. 
We  find  it,  then,  to  be  the  significant  characteristic 
of  our  human  experience,  that  which  imparts  to  it 
its  value,  that  mind  is  not  subject  to  the  laws  of 
matter,  but  that  matter,  through  its  laws,  is  subject 
to  mind  and  increasingly  so  ;  that  mind  is  perpetu- 
ally transferring  to  it  its  own  conceptions,  and  reach- 
ing through  it  its  own  ends.  This  cardinal  relation 
we  may  carry  with  us  as  clear  light  in  an  inquiry 
into  the  ultimate  dependencies  of  the  two  terms. 
As  the  arrangements  and  proportions  of  a  house 
are  the  products  of  mind,  it  becomes  only  a  rational 
extension  of  the  explanation  to  suppose  that  the 
arrangements  and  proportions  of  the  world  are,  in  a 
more  profound  way,  also  the  products  of  mind.  It 
becomes  very  certain  to  us  that  mind  itself  is  not, 
in  any  way,  the  result  of  these  very  arrangements 
and  proportions. 

"  If  the  mere  existence  of  Mind  is  supposed  to 
require,  as  a  necessary  antecedent,  another  mind 
greater  and  more  powerful,  the  difficulty  is  not 
removed  by  going  one  step  back  ;  the  creating  mind 
stands  as  much  in  need  of  another  mind  to  be  the 
source  of  its  existence  as  the  created  mind.  Be  it 
remembered  that  we  have  no  direct  knowledge  (at 
least  apart  from  Revelation)  of  a  mind  which  is 
even  apparently  eternal,  as  Force  and  Matter  are ! 
An  eternal  mind  is,  as  far  as  the  present  argument 
is  concerned,  a  simple  hypothesis  to  account  for  the 
minds  which  we  know  to  exist.  Now  it  is  essential 
to  an  hypothesis  that,  if  admitted,  it  should  at  least 
remove  the  difficulty  and  account  for  the  facts.     But 


MIND    THE    SOURCE    OF    MIND.  6? 

it  does  not  account  for  mind  to  refer  our  mind  to  a 
prior  mind  for  its  origin.  The  problem  remains  un- 
solved, nay,  rather  increased."  * 

"  Mind  can  only  be  caused  by  mind,  and,  there- 
fore, mind  must  either  be  uncaused  or  caused  by  a 
creating  mind.  Where  is  our  warrant  for  making 
this  assertion?  Where  is  the  proof  that  nothing 
can  have  caused  a  mind  except  another  mind  ? 
Answer  to  this  question  there  is  none.  For  aught 
that  we  can  ever  know  to  the  contrary,  anything 
within  the  whole  range  of  the  Possible  may  be  com- 
petent to  produce  a  self-conscious  intelligence — and 
to  assume  that  mind  is  so  far  an  entity  sui  generis, 
that  it  must  either  be  self-existing  or  derived  from 
another  mind  which  is  self-existing,  is  merely  to  beg 
the  whole  question  as  to  the  being  of  God."f 

We  have  here  two  difficulties  put  by  Mr.  Mill 
and  by  the  author  of  Theism.  The  first  is  that 
mind  can  not  be  put  back  of  mind  in  explanation 
of  it.  If  mind  can  not  be  assigned  this  ultimate 
position,  certainly  matter  can  not  be ;  for  causation 
in  the  physical  world  leads  us  to  no  first  cause.  We 
are  thus  cut  off  from  any  explanation  of  the  uni- 
verse. All  that  we  can  say  of  it  is,  that  it  offers 
itself  to  us  as  an  eternal  comincr  and  goinsr,  with  no 
ultimate  source  or  rational  end.  This  statement  is 
merely  the  counterpart  of  the  phenomena  as  they 
present  themselves  to  the  senses  ;  it  meets  the  mind 
neither  with  ultimate  causes  nor  ultimate  reasons. 
Causation,  either  efficient  or  final,  is  without  a  goal ; 
the  inquiries  with  which   we   interest   ourselves  so 

*  Theism,  p.  12. 
f  Ibid,  p.  14. 


68  ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 

zealously  are  finally  abortive  and  expire  in  dark- 
ness. We  pursue  the  butterfly,  but  the  butterfly 
escapes  us,  and  leaves  us  only  our  fatigue. 

Whether  we  can  or  can  not  reach  a  beginning  in 
reference  to  the  present  universe  turns  on  the  ques- 
tion, whether  we  can  or  can  not  rationally  entertain 
the  idea  of  a  truly  Infinite  Being.  The  infinity  of 
God  makes  it  unnecessary  and  irrational  to  put 
back  of  him  any  farther  being  either  as  mind  or  as 
matter.      Such   a   retrogression   would   destroy  the 

/conception.  The  possibility  of  ultimate  explana- 
tion, then,  resolves  itself  into  the  inquiry,  whether 
either  matter  or  mind  offers  the  conditions  of  a  true 
Infinite.  Plainly  matter  does  not.  It  is,  in  every 
phase  of  it,  a  realized  finite  existence,  as  definite 
and  measured  in  all  its  immense  dimensions  as  if  ita 
were  confined  to  the  earth  alone.  But  mind  may 
give  the  requisite  conception  for  an  Infinite  Being, 
offering  as  it  does  the  two  necessary  elements  of 
spontaneity — the  power  of  origination,  and  poten- 
tiality— an  unmeasured  reserve  of  power.  If  we 
put  this  conception  of  infinite  mind,  which  we 
rationally  may  do,  back  of  the  universe,  we  have 
reached   a  beginning  and   a  Supreme   Personal    Po- 

stency,  to  whom  all  ways  are  open.  We  have  no 
occasion  to  go  further  than  this.  We  cannot  ration- 
ally go  further  than  this,  since  this  conception  is 
the  proper  balance  and  equivalent  of  the  universe, 
of  which  it  itself  is  no  part.  The  mind  can  rest  in 
these  two  ideas  as  readily  as,  in  a  narrower  relation, 
it  rests  in  the  notions  of  cause  and  effect, or  of  ra- 
tional action  and  rational  motive. 


MIND    AND    MATTER. 


69 


The  second  difficulty  stated  is,  that  we  have  no 
more  warrant  under  experience  for  affirming  mind 
to  be  the  source  of  matter  than  we  have  for  affirm- 
ing that  matter  is  the  source  of  mind.  "  In  whatever 
degree  it  is  unthinkable  that  matter  should  be  the 
cause  of  mind,  in  that  precise  degree  must  it  be  un- 
thinkable that  mind  was  ever  the  cause  of  matter,  the 
correlatives  being  in  each  case  the  same,  and  expe- 
rience affording  no  evidence  of  causality  in  either."  * 

This  assertion  may  be  true  enough  if  we  confine 
ourselves  to  the  imagination,  for  causation  in  neither 
direction  and  in  no  direction  is  conceivable.  It  does 
not  seem  to  be  true  under  a  rationally  interpret- 
ed experience,  for  these  reasons:  (i)  Mind  cans 
begin  an  action,  matter  cannot.  This  is  a  point 
already  settled  by  our  psychology.  (2)  If  mind 
has  sprung  from  matter,  it  must  either  have  existed 
in  matter  in  an  inchoate,  incomprehensible  way 
from  all  eternity  or  itself  be  simply  a  peculiar  com- 
pound of  matter.  There  is  nothing  in  our  expe- 
rience to  confirm  either  supposition.  If  matter  has 
sprung  from  mind,  it  is  a  fact  perfectly  in  accord- 
ance with  the  fact,  pitched  to  a  lower  key,  that  mat- 
ter is  daily  receiving  modifications  directly  traceable 
to  mind  as  an  ultimate  source.  The  very  gist  of 
mind,  to  wit,  thought-relations,  are  inserted  in  mat- 
ter ;  the  very  gist  of  matter,  to  wit,  physical  prop- 
erties, never  appear  in  mind.  (3)  Unless  we  con- 
found mind  and  matter  hopelessly,  the  proportions 
and  combinations  everywhere  present  in  matter  can- 
not be  explained  if  matter  be  ultimate,  and  are  at 
once  explained  if  mind   be  ultimate.      (4^    All  that  ' 

*  Ibid,  p.  17- 


70  ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 

in  mind  which  makes  it  to  be  other  than  matter, 
more  and  higher  than  it,  is  unintelligible,  if  mind  lies 
back  of  mind  ;  but  is  intelligible  under  the  equiva- 
lence of  causes  and  effects,  if  matter  is  the  source 
of  mind.  The  distinction  between  the  two  must 
be  ultimately  lost  by  such  a  reference,  and  is  being 
daily  obscured  by  it.  Our  first  term  of  knowledge, 
an  intelligent  mind,  thus  sinks  again  in  the  confu- 
sion and  chaos  of  all  things.  This  result  is  clearly 
reached  by  the  authors  referred  to.  "  Science,  by 
establishing  the  doctrine  of  the  persistence  of  force 
and  the  indestructibility  of  matter,  has  effectually 
disproved  the  hypothesis  that  the  presence  of  law  in 
nature  is  of  itself  sufficient  to  prove  the  existence 
of  an  intelligent  Law-giver.*"  What  is  this  but  say- 
ing that  no  amount  of  order  and  no  relations  can 
disclose  mind,  or  are  at  all  inconsistent  with  a  refer- 
ence of  all  things  to  matter.  The  phenomena  of 
mind,  as  interpreted  by  human  experience,  thus 
cease  to  declare  mind,  and  are  made  to  declare  mat- 
ter. The  indestructibility  of  matter  and  the  per- 
sistence of  energy  within  a  finite  field  are  quite 
other  things  than  the  eternity  of  either  matter  or 
energy.  The  first  might  be  an  ordination  of  mind  ; 
the  second  could  not  be.  The  author  has  assumed 
the  equivalence  of  the  two  statements. 

"  Science,  indeed,  has  proved  that  if  there  is  a 
divine  mind  in  nature,  and  if  by  the  hypothesis  such 
a  mind  exerts  any  causative  influence  on  the  phe- 
nomena of  nature,  such  influence  is  exerted  beyond 
the  sphere  of  experience."  f 

*  Ibid,  p.  75- 
f  Ibid,  p.  74. 


MIND    AND    MATTER.  7  l 

These  assertions  presuppose  so  false  a  conception 
of  the  action  of  mind  in  the  world,  and  consequently 
so  strong  a  presumption  against  its  presence,  as  to 
prejudge  any  argument  in  favor  of  creative  power. 
The  grounds  of  this  presumption  are  two,  that  we 
do  not  in  our  own  experience  directly  discern  the 
presence  of  God,  and  that  energy  is  indestructible. 
Both  of  these  reasons  involve  an  empirical  philoso- 
phy in  so  narrow  a  form  as  to  render  all  effort  for 
an  ultimate  interpretation  of  the  world  hopeless  on 
its  very  face.  A  truer  psychology  prepares  us  to 
accept  the  order  of  the  world  as  the  immediate 
phenomenal  presentation  of  God's  presence  ;  while 
the  perpetuity  of  the  energies  through  which  it  is 
expressed  is  a  law  established  within  them  for  a 
creative  purpose,  a  law  by  which  they  accept,  and 
not  one  by  which  they  cast  off,  the  divine  thought. 
Precisely  thus  the  physical  powers  of  the  human 
body  are  under  the  law  of  correlation,  but  are  not 
thereby  removed  from  the  immediate  control  of  the 
human  spirit.  Order  and  control  are  correlatives  ; 
if  there  is  no  order,  there  are  no  conditions  of  gov- 
ernment. Nor  are  we  confined  simply  to  the  use  of 
our  bodies  when  made  ;  we  can  through  the  laws  of 
inheritance — by  the  very  means  by  which  we  work 
them — do  much  to  make  the  bodies  of  coming  gene- 
rations what  we  wish  them  to  be.  Give  these  facts  of 
experience  the  expansion  which  properly  belongs  to 
them — by  which  they  are  presented  as  premises  of 
the  reason,  rather  than  as  the  ultimate  facts  of  the 
senses — when  carried  over  to  the  interpretation  of 
the    Infinite,   and    God    abides   in  the  midst  of  all 


J2  ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 

physical  energies,  while  these  laws  are  the  immedi- 
ate expression  of  his  constructive  thought.  The 
strength  and  beauty  of  the  world  have  not  retired 
further  and  further,  till  they  have  lost  themselves 
as  irrational  results  in  an  irrational  source ;  thought 
and  force  alike  have  centered  themselves  in  a  har- 
monious and  profound  way,  in  the  true  omnipres- 
ence of  God. 

We  cannot  pursue  further  to  advantage  in  so  gen- 
eral a  form  the  relations  of  matter  and  mind.  They 
will  be  more  distinctly  seen  in  each  branch  of  the 
discussion.  There  is,  however,  an  interesting  item, 
even  in  our  narrow  experience  narrowly  expounded, 
which  seems  to  have  been  overlooked  in  the  impli- 
cation that  mind  can  as  readily  be  referred  for  its 
origin  to  matter  as  to  mind.  It  is  true,  if  strict 
evolution  is  established,  that  mind  is  ultimately  de- 
rived from  matter,  but  evolution  is  not  established. 
The  item  to  which  reference  is  had,  is  the  fact,  that 
all  life  and  each  form  of  life  springs  from  life  like 
unto  itself.  This  is  a  universal  law.  The  balance 
of  proof  still  carries  it  unbroken  down  to  the  lowest 
forms  of  life.  This  great  law  of  experience,  that 
like  begets  like,  applied  to  the  discussion  before  us 
means,  that  mind  begets  mind.  To  affirm  that  mat- 
ter, outside  the  range  of  experience,  produces  mind, 
is  to  allow  the  unknown  to  contradict  fundamentally 
the  known,  is  to  say  that  we  have  one  law  in  the 
universe  and  another  in  the  construction  of  the 
universe,  is  to  allow  empirical  philosophy  to  set  aside 
experience. 

§  7.  We  believe  then,  that  the  first  spontaneous 


MIND    AND    MATTER.  73 

interpretation  of  the  universe  by  trie  human  mind, 
though  often  narrow  in  form,  false  in  details,  and 
wavering  in  conviction,  is  the  correct  one,  and  con- 
tains the  germ  of  a  growing  argument  for  the  being 
of  God.  It  springs  from  the  immediate  estimate 
mind  makes  of  itself,  of  matter,  and  of  the  relations 
between  the  two.  This  argument  will  remain  good 
so  long  as  the  essential  soundness  of  the  mind's 
judgment  of  itself  shall  be  recognized.  It  is  a  very 
direct  proof,  a  very  spontaneous  interpretation,  but 
one  which  turns  on  the  universal  consciousness,  the 
habitual  rendering  of  mind  by  mind,  its  apprehen- 
sion of  its  true  equivalence  in  the  world. 

Mind  alone  within  the  compass  of  our  experience  s 
gives  us  a  true  beginning  of  any  line  of  action  ;  mind 
alone  is  spontaneous.  It  is  mind  that  shapes  mat- 
ter, that  uses  it  as  an  instrument  for  its  own  ends. 
It  is  mind  alone  that  acts  under  final  causes;  matter 
has  no  ends  in  view,  is  subject  to  no  motives.  While 
matter  as  the  instrument  of  mind  partially  condi- 
tions mind,  it  does  it  by  inertia,  by  a  fixed  nature, 
that  seeks  nothing  for  itself,  and  submits  itself  with- 
out concurrence  or  resistance  to  the  hand  that  wields 
it.  No  new  order,  no  thought,  no  arrangement  for  a 
fresh  purpose,  appear  in  matter  within  the  circuit  of 
human  experience  except  through  the  intervention 
of  mind  ;  while  in  this  form  they  arise  momentarily. 
Mind,  therefore,  presents  itself  with  a  sovereignty 
over  the  physical  world,  while  the  physical  world 
lies  fixed  in  its  order.  Hence  the  easy,  natural,  in- 
evitable inference  of  one  Supreme  Mind,  when  hu- 
man thought   strives  to  rise  beyond  its  immediate 


74 


ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 


experience  and  explain  the  phenomena  of  the  world 
on  a  broader  field.  Mind  is  still  regarded  as  the  ex- 
clusive source  of  change,  of  thoughtful  relations,  of 
order  instituted  for  an  end.  The  laws  that  are  in 
matter  act  with  no  more  power  of  redirection  or 
self-modification  than  belongs  to  the  stones  set  in  a 
building.  They  seem  simply  to  preserve  a  fixed  re- 
lation to  a  constructive  service  that  has  been  put 
upon  them  by  mind. 

Mind  also  offers  in  its  potentiality  an  available  in- 
finite. Infinite  matter  would  be  a  plenum  and  ad- 
mit no  change,  would  exclude  all  modification, 
creation,  evolution.  All  that  empiricism  charges 
on  the  notion  of  the  infinite  we  admit  as  applied  to 
matter.  But  mind  may  remain  an  unmeasured  po- 
tentiality from  which  the  finite  may  flow  in  per- 
petual expression. 

Thus  between  the  two  terms,  mind  and  matter, 
mind  alone  offers  the  spontaneous,  creative,  combin- 
ing power  which  permits  it  to  furnish  an  ultimate 
explanation  to  the  Universe ;  mind  alone  can  abide 
in  that  unwearied  productiveness  which  offers  a 
final  term  to  human  thought.  No  matter  with 
what  material  terms  we  start,  we  reach  no  begin- 
ning. The  whole  problem  is  still  in  them  entire 
and  untouched  at  every  stage.  We  ask  without 
answer  for  the  origin  of  things.  A  change  of 
forms,  but  no  change  of  forces  is  possible.  All 
movement  backward  and  forward  expires  by  the 
slow  retardation  of  weariness  with  no  suggestion  of 
any  bounds.  All  thought  thus  becomes  at  length  the 
unsolaced  travel  of  a  tread-mill,  in   which   work   is 


SIMPLICITY    OF    PROOF.  J  $ 

endless  but  no  progress  is  made.  Infinite  mind  on 
the  other  hand  can  begin  and  carry  forward  the 
universe,  while  itself  so  full  a  term  as  to  give  ex 
haustive  explanation  of  all  that  takes  place  by  its 
action  ;  it  is  also  a  term  of  such  a  nature  as  to 
raise  no  new  problems  corresponding  to  those  it 
solves.  A  true  infinite  neither  calls  for  nor  admits 
a  finite  or  an  infinite  back  of  it. 

The  mind  of  man  is  so  made,  reason  is  of  such  a 
nature  as  to  rest  in  reasons.  An  effect,  troublesome 
to  thought  in  itself,  is  satisfactory  to  thought  when 
united  to  its  cause  ;  action  inexplicable  without  a 
motive  is  at  once  balanced  by  a  sufficient  motive, 
and  intellectual  equilibrium  is  restored  to  contem-. 
plation.  The  finite  in  matter  and  mind  is  unpoised 
till  the  infinite  in  mind  is  set  over  against  it.  Then 
the  reposeful  motion  of  thought  in  its  proper  orbit 
springs  up  once  more  under  the  double  impulse. 
The  ultimate  poise  of  mind  is  achieved  by  this  ac- 
tion between  correlative  ideas,  as  the  bird  moves 
and  rests  on  opposing  wings. 

§  8.  The  argument  for  the  being  of  God,  far- 
reaching  as  it  is  in  its  conclusions,  is  yet  very  direct 
and  simple  and  sustained  by  manifold  deductions 
and  inductions.  It  cannot  be  subverted  without  a 
subversion  of  those  first  truths  of  philosophy  on 
which  it  rests.  This  foundation  giving  way,  we 
abandon  at  once  the  tumbling  superstructure.  But 
so  long  as  men  hold  to  their  primitive  interpreta- 
tion of  the  powers  of  mind  and  those  of  matter, 
they  will  inevitably  look  to  mental  powers  for  an 
explanation  of  the  order  and  beauty  of  the  world. 


/6  ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 

Yet  narrow  objections  may  be  taken.  It  may  be 
said  that  we  have  no  experience  under  which  mind 
creates  one  atom  of  matter  or  one  unit  of  energy. 
Grant  it ;  this  fact  does  not  obscure  the  fact  that 
the  mind  of  man  is  constantly  in  an  inscrutable 
way  using  the  substances  and  energies  already  in 
existence  and  freely  introducing  among  them  its 
own  purposes.  If  the  power  to  use  forces  belongs  to 
finite  mind,  the  kindred  power  of  creating  them 
can  hardly  be  withheld  from  Infinite  Mind.  Finite- 
ness  affects  the  terms  in  magnitude,  but  does  not 
disguise  the  essential  relation  between  matter  and 
Nmind.  Matter  does  not,  can  not,  in  the  presence  of 
the  human  mind  preserve  its  integrity,  keep  itself 
intact.  In  secret  fashion  the  mind  finds  way  among 
its  forces  and  employs  them  as  truly  as  if  it  created 
them.  To  insist,  as  a  condition  of  validity  in 
this  great  argument,  that  man  should  create  mat- 
ter as  well  as  control  it,  is  to  be  confused  by  the 
letter  of  our  finite  limitations,  rather  than  in- 
structed by  their  spirit  and  power.  Of  course  the 
Infinite  can  not  be  measured  by  the  finite  ;  the  finite 
is  but  its  shadow  and  must  lack  somewhat  of  its 
substance.  We  are  not  to  force  our  argument  to 
travel  on  all  fours.  If  it  were  shown  that  man  did 
create  force,  the  objector  might  still  urge  that  he 
should  be  shown  to  create  force  indefinitely. 

The  argument  is  debased  and  quizzed  when  the 
inquiry  is  made  :  Where  is  the  brain  of  God  ?  Brain 
is  a  medium  of  communication  between  matter  and 
mind  in  their  finite  forms;  mind,  introduced  into  a 
physical  universe  foreign  to  itself,  is  united  to  it  by 


SPECIAL    EXAMPLES.  *]J 

a  nervous  system.  Thus  it  has  control  without 
creation.  When  we  are  to  take  an  ultimate  posi- 
tion, to  reach  an  all-comprehensive  idea,  we  must 
allow  the  rational  process  to  complete  itself  under 
its  own  law.  Not  to  do  this  is  to  insist  on  seeing 
the  sun  without  looking  up. 

§  9.  The  simple  yet  multiform  argument  for  the 
being  of  God  has  been  chiefly  fortified  in  the  past 
by  striking  examples  of  special  adaptations.  These 
instances  do  not  essentially  affect  the  logical  force 
of  the  proof;  they  serve  simply  to  impress  it  on  the 
mind ;  they  concentrate  the  light  afresh  upon  its 
data.  They  are  not,  therefore,  without  popular 
value,  though  of  secondary  theoretical  worth.  The 
progress  of  science  has  served  to  render  these  illus- 
trations unnecessary,  and  greatly  to  modify  their 
logical  force.  The  world  is  far  too  full  of  laws  to 
make  an  extended  presentation  of  this  fact  needful. 
If  God  is  at  all  present,  he  is  pervasively  present  ; 
if  his  being  is  to  be  proved,  it  is  proved  not  by  one 
or  a  hundred  special  contrivances,  but  by  a  wis- 
dom that  is  absolutely  world-wide. 

While,  therefore,  our  argument  may  occasionally 
seek  the  emphasis  of  striking  relations,  it  will  have 
far  more  to  do  with  the  fundamental  laws  of  the 
world,  and  their  ultimate  reference  whether  to  mat- 
ter or  mind.  The  amount  of  constructive  energy 
in  the  universe  has  passed  beyond  dispute  and  be- 
yond presentation  ;  the  only  question  that  remains 
is,  What  is  its  seat,  what  its  source  ?  The  argument 
alters  its  character  somewhat  in  each  of  the  great 
fields  of  inquiry,  and  we  must  therefore  consider  it 


78  ARGUMENT    IN    OUTLINE. 

separately  in  the  inorganic,  the  organic,  and  the 
spiritual  world.  The  eternity  of  matter  and  energy 
is  the  first  postulate  of  atheism,  and  its  second  pos- 
tulate, evolution.  These  two  logically  cover  the 
discussion,  and  must  be  met  distinctly  in  each  stage 
of  procedure. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PROOF     OF      THE      BEING      OF      GOD      IN      THE      INORGANIC 
WORLD. 

§  I.  SOME  have  thought  that  theism  is  not  greatly- 
affected  by  the  supposition  of  the  eternity  of  mat- 
ter and  energy.  Others,  more  sagacious,  have  seen 
that  this  supposition,  supported  by  that  of  evolu- 
tion, excludes  all  sufficient  proof  of  the  being  of 
God.  "  That  the  argument  from  General  Laws  is  a 
futile  argument  is  no  longer  a  matter  of  unverifiable 
opinion  ;  it  is  as  sure  as  the  most  fundamental  axiom 
of  science.  That  the  argument  will  long  remain  in 
illogical  minds,  I  doubt  not ;  but  that  it  is  from 
henceforth  quite  inadmissible  in  accurate  thinking, 
there  can  be  no  doubt."  *  Granting  the  eternity  of 
matter,  and  of  the  forms  that  gather  about  it, 
"  every  change  or  event  of  evolution  is  necessarily 
bound  to  ensue,  else  force  and  matter  have  not  been 
persistent/'  f  The  conclusion  is  unavoidable.  If 
matter  is  eternal,  so  also  are  the  properties,  laws  and 
relations  of  matter  ;  and  thus  its  constructive  work 
in  the  universe  is  completely  provided  for.  Up  to 
the  point  of  the  appearance  of  life  nothing  remains 

*  Theism,  p.  53. 
f  Ibid,  p.  54. 

79 


80  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

to  be  done,  and  at  this  point  evolution  steps  in  to 
bridge  the  gulf  that  is  only  apparent,  not  real— and 
the  last  data  from  which  to  argue  the  divine  exist- 
ence disappear.  If  God  were  present  in  a  universe 
whose  material  is  eternal  and  instinct  with  order, 
there  would  be  nothing  for  him  to  do,  nothing  sub- 
ject to  his  disposal.  Unless  we  chose  in  thought  to 
assign  him  mechanical  tasks,  like  a  workman,  in  an 
outside  moving  hither  and  thither  of  matter,  mat- 
ter being  given  in  its  properties,  all  true  construc- 
tion is  provided  for.  Any  other  product  would  be 
an  edifice,  something  put  together  with  tools,  its 
parts  fitted  and  lifted  to  their  places.  The  position 
thus  provided  for  God  in  the  universe  would  be  as 
much  opposed  to  reason  as  to  experience.  Being 
excluded  from  any  interior  control  by  its  indepen- 
dent and  persistent  properties,  he  must  remain  an 
idle  spectator ;  he  could  only  tug  and  strain  at  it 
like  a  laborer,  in  a  most  superfluous  way,  against  the 
sweep  of  composite  energies  carrying  it  on  in  its 
creative  work  in  a  truly  divine  fashion.  The  full 
exposition  of  physical  laws,  as  grounded  in  the  very 
nature  of  matter,  excludes  any  divine  power  which 
is  not  expressed  in  and  through  them.  Science  is 
constantly  subserving  this  great  purpose  ;  it  com- 
pels us  to  reshape  our  conceptions  of  the  divine 
nature,  and  give  them  more  fulness  and  proportion. 
The  divine  wisdom  must  remain  the  substratum  of 
all  things,  or,  once  lifted  to  the  surface,  it  disappears 
altogether. 

The  first  question,  therefore,  in  time  and  in  im- 
portance to  be  raised  and  settled  in  a  discussion  of 


MIND    AND    MATTER.  8 1 

Natural  Theology  is  the  relation  of  mind  and  mat- 
ter, and  their  order  of  precedence.  If  matter  comes 
before  mind,  then  the  germs  of  the  universe  must 
be  sought  for  in  it.  If  matter  and  mind  are  both 
eternal,  then  our  system  is  dualistic,  and  we  have 
neither  in  matter  nor  mind  a  true  infinite,  a  divine 
potency  ;  nor  in  them  collectively  the  promise  of 
any  harmony.  In  such  a  relation  matter,  in  its  stub- 
born eternity,  its  unbending  persistency,  must  hope- 
lessly weary  the  comparatively  superficial  activities 
of  mind.  The  mind  finds  neither  rational  rest  nor 
rational  hope  in  such  a  conception.  If  mind  alone 
is  eternal,  it  can  enfold  all  things,  and  bear  them  all 
forward  to  its  own  ends. 

So  true  to  human  thought  is  this  ultimate  depend- 
ence of  matter  on  mind,  that  those  who  deny  the 
eternity  of  mind,  begin  at  once  by  a  subtile  compen- 
sation to  break  down  the  distinction  between  mind 
and  matter,  and  carry  what  they  term  intelligence 
far  back  into  the  physical  kingdom.  Having  denied 
to  mind  its  proper  work,  they  assign  that  work  to 
simply  physical  and  organic  activities  as  seats  of 
an  "  unconscious  or  supra-conscious  intelligence." 
They  are  thus  able  to  retain  a  verbal  explanation  of 
the  chief  fact  of  the  universe,  its  pervasive  order. 
Locke,  who  did  so  much  to  originate  the  modern 
empirical  movement,  and  yet,  if  he  had  anticipated 
it,  would  have  drawn  back  from  so  many  of  its  con- 
clusions, raised  this  very  inquiry,  whether  matter 
may  not  think.  Intelligence  being  indispensable, 
matter,  in  a  wholly  obscure  way,  is  made  to  absorb 
it  into  its  very  substance.     The  theory  is  wholly  in- 


82  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

admissible,     (i)  It  contradicts  narrowly  and  broadly, 
superficially  and  profoundly,  that  very  experience  on 
which  the  Empirical  Philosophy  is  built.     We  know 
nothing  of  intelligence  separated  from  consciousness, 
any  more  than  of  physical  properties  separated  from 
space.     It  is  a  statement  so  alien  to  our  knowledge, 
that  mere  matter  is  intelligent,  as  to  be  wholly  un- 
intelligible to  us.     (2)  Intelligence  must  forecast  its 
ends,  or  we  have  so   far  reduced  the  meaning   of 
the  word  as  to  destroy  the  power  of  the  idea  to  ex- 
pound a  world  whose  chief  feature  is,  that  results 
and  relations  of  the  broadest  sweep  are  provided  for. 
That  which  does  not  foresee   cannot  explain  com- 
plicated,   complete    and    remote    correspondences. 
(3)  If   unconscious   intelligence   suffices   to   explain 
universal  law  as  present  in  the  world,  it  must  not 
merely  equal  but  far  transcend  the  later  conscious 
intelligence  of  mind.     Evolution  has  not  been,  there- 
fore, an  expansion  but  a  steady  reduction  of  intelli- 
gence.    It  has  lifted  it  from  the  heart  of  things,  and 
made   of  it  a   comparatively  superficial   play  upon 
their  surface.     Matter,  so-called,  is  a  seat  of  a  much 
grander  intelligence  than  mind,  so-called.     (4)  This 
philosophy  simply  confounds  matter  and  mind  with 
a  loss  of  the  first  principles  of  comprehension. 

§  2.  We  first  consider  then  the  proof  of  the  eter- 
nal precedence  of  mind.  The  world  of  intelligence 
— that  is,  the  world  of  perceptions,  conceptions, 
ideas,  in  which  the  mind  moves — is  the  first  world  to 
every  rational  spirit,  and  the  world  through  which 
alone  a  second  world  of  outward  and  physical  facts 
is  reached.     The  first  world  is  the  mirror  in  whose 


CONSTRUCTIVE    POWER    OF    MIND.  83 

reflection  we  see  the  second  world,  and  the  second 
world  always  remains  to  the  mind  rendered  in  form 
and  given  in  relations  by  the  mind's  constructive 
faculties.  While,  therefore,  the  physical  world  as  a 
simple,  uncomprehended  fact  goes  before  each  finite 
mind,  awakening  that  mind  to  activity,  the  actual 
and  partially  comprehensible  world  in  which  each 
mind  moves  is  built  up  under  its  own  perceptions, 
and  harmonized  by  its  own  ideas.  The  mind  is  thus 
in  a  very  important  sense  the  fabricator  of  its  own 
universe,  as  the  reader  renders  anew  the  idea,  and 
does  not  take  it  mechanically  from  the  symbols  of 
the  page  before  him. 

Perceptions  as  of  taste,  odor,  sound  and  color, 
with  which  we  habilitate  the  frame-work  of  matter, 
have  in  them  a  purely  subjective  element.  Sound 
is  not  in  the  air,  but  in  the  ear  that  hears ;  color  is 
not  spread  as  a  tent  in  the  sky,  nor  as  a  covering 
over  the  plain ;  it  is  a  transfiguration,  by  the  mind, 
through  the  medium  of  an  organic  sensibility,  of 
facts  in  themselves  quite  unapproachable.  The 
world  is  silent,  the  world  is  dark,  till  the  mind  at  its 
lattice  sees  and  listens ;  till  it  brings  that  second 
element  in  the  grand  correlation  by  which  matter 
and  mind  spring  up  together  in  a  measureless  uni- 
verse, whose  depths  are  the  recesses  of  unexplored 
truth. 

More  markedly  the  mind  furnishes  those  ideas 
by  which  alone  sensations  are  framed  into  the  fixed 
magnitudes  of  the  world,  or  flow  on  as  its  firmly 
ordered  events.  We  simply  refer,  in  passing,  to 
space  and   time,  by  which  the  impalpable  mental 


84  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

impressions  known  as  perceptions  are  turned  into  an 
external  world,  as  unlike  themselves  as  the  acorn  to 
the  oak  ;  by  which  the  images  of  a  mirror,  the  colors 
of  a  painting,  the  impressions  of  a  dream — none  of 
them  containing  as  a  mere  fact  their   interspaces — 
are  shaped   into   a   coherent  whole.     Though   each 
finite  mind  does  not  create  the  world,  it  recreates  it 
for  itself.    While  we  did  not  write  Hamlet,  we  do  not 
read  Hamlet  without  sharing  the  power  of  its  creative 
mind.      It  is  ever  a  fresh  appeal  to  our  constructive 
force.     As  we  render  the  world   to  the  mind  by  the 
mind  acting  creatively,  we  may  the  more  easily  be- 
lieve that  it  owes  its  present  suggestion  to  mind  from 
the  previous  presence  of  mind  in  it.     What  we  get 
from  it  by  virtue  of  reason,  we  may  naturally  think 
entered  into  it  by  virtue  of  reason.     This  is  the  law 
of  language  in  the  whole  range  of  our  experience. 
§  3.  If  we  take  two  other  ideas,  resemblance  and 
causation,  we  shall  still  more  clearly  see   how  all  in- 
tellectual construction  is  from  mind  and  not  from 
matter ;  how  wholly  we  live  in  a  world  whose  sym- 
bols have   force  through   mind   back   of  them   and 
mind   before   them.     They  seem  to  stand  as  terms 
between  mind  and  mind,  and  to  carry  reason  with 
them.      The   tracing   of    resemblances  does  indeed 
turn   chiefly  on  the  senses,  and  may  appear,  there- 
fore, to  be  little  more  than  a  record  of  matter  upon 
mind.     Yet  this  impression  is  a  superficial  one  ;   for 
if  we  study  any  mind,  we  shall  see  that  its  record 
has  been  determined  by  its  own  constructive  activi- 
ties.   The  materials  and  the  relations  suitable  for  its 
purposes  have  been  taken,  and  those  only. 


CONSTRUCTIVE    POWER    OF    MIND.  85 

The  two  ideas,  resemblance  and  causation,  work 
together  from  the  outset.    External  forms  are  inter- 
esting to  us  as  they  express  and   interpret  internal 
properties  and  forces,  since  it  is  by  the  wide   recog- 
nition of  these  that  we  make  the  world  minister  to 
our  wants.     What  language  is  to   thought,  that   are 
sensible   signs  to   underlying  properties  and  poten- 
tial energies.     We  should  weary  at  once  of  language, 
were   it  not  for    the  included   idea;    or  rather  the 
mind    would   never    be    directed    toward    language, 
were  it  not  for  this  its  own  interpreting  power.     But 
this  notion   of  causation,  of  included   forces  which 
find   expression   in  form,  color,  sound,  motion,  and 
are  united  to  each  other  in  laws  of  definite  reactions 
and  interchanges,  is  purely  mental ;  so  much  so  that 
consistent  empiricists  have  denied  its  validity,  and 
striven  to   replace  it  by  simple  sequence.     That  is 
they  have  wished  to  save  language  as  an  interesting 
symbol  to  the  eye,  after  it  has  ceased  to  mean  any- 
thing to  the  mind.     Certainly,  sequences  which  have 
no  grounds  can  give  rise  to  no  expectations,  can  be 
the  basis  of  no  actions  ;  expectations  and  actions  are 
themselves  so  far  effects.   If  there  are  no  causes  there 
can  be  no  reasons ;  continuous   conjunctions  would 
be    no    more    significant    than    discontinuous    ones. 
There   is  no   more  causation  in  the  one  series  than 
in  the  other,  nor  can  the  one  series  act  either  as  a 
cause  or  as  a  reason  on  the  mind  any  more  than  the 
other.     If  things  are   dissolved,  our  thoughts  con- 
cerning them  are  dissolved  also.     It  is   by  virtue  of 
what  the  mind  has  supplied  to  things,  that  things 
in  turn  affect  mind. 


86  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

When  I  say,  that  "  Force  is  any  cause  which 
alters  or  tends  to  alter  a  body's  natural  state  of  rest 
or  of  uniform  motion ;  To  every  action  there  is 
always  an  equal  and  contrary  reaction  : "  when  I 
speak  of  kinetic  energy  and  potential  energy,  and 
the  conservation  of  energies  ;  or  when  I  say  that 
"  for  every  unit  of  heat  measured  by  the  raising  of 
a  pound  of  water  one  degree  Fahrenheit  in  tem- 
perature, you  have  to  expend  772  foot-pounds  of 
work ;  and  that  a  foot-pound  is  the  energy  acquired 
by  the  fall  of  one  pound  one  foot ;  that  a  horse- 
power is  the  energy  required  to  lift  33,000  pounds 
one  foot  in  one  minute,"  I  am  interpreting  nature 
in  all  these  statements  by  ideas  present  to  the  mind, 
and  in  no  way  by  impressions  in  any  one  of  my 
senses.  As  thus  science  constantly  proceeds,  and 
the  more  uniformly  as  its  processes  increase  in  ex- 
planatory power,  on  conceptions  which  the  mind 
brings  to  matter,  we  may  well  believe  that  this 
fact  is  significant  in  disclosing  the  ultimate  relation 
of  the  two.  Language  grows  coetaneously  with  the 
thought,  yet  thought  is  always  the  kinetic  energy 
which  is  bearing  it  on.  To  make  language  ultimate, 
and  to  regard  its  meaning  as  in  some  way  its  organic 
product,  would  be  absurd  ;  to  make  matter  ultimate, 
and  to  accept  these  invisible  and  subtile  connec- 
tions of  mind  which  it  discloses  as  of  its  own  nature, 
is  a  somewhat  kindred  absurdity.  Matter  as  matter 
addresses  itself  to  the  senses.  Here  its  physical 
field  and  force  terminate.  If  it  penetrates  deeper 
than  this,  and  reveals  pure  relations  of  reason  to  the 
mind,  universal  experience  requires  that  we  grant 


NUMBER. 


87 


this  result  to  be  the  work  of  reason.  As,  then,  the 
notion  of  causation  has  the  range  of  the  physical 
world  as  its  combining  idea  ;  as  this  notion  is  purely 
the  product  of  mind,  actively  interpreting  the  facts 
to  itself,  it  indicates  clearly  that  antecedent  pres- 
ence of  mind  in  matter,  by  which  matter  has  become, 
to  its  last  constituent  of  relation,  a  language  of 
mind. 

§  4.  If  this  argument  seems  unfamiliar  and  ob- 
scure, it  gathers  clearness  and  force  at  once,  when 
we  pass  to  one  other  conception,  that  of  number. 
Number,  in  the  exact  equivalence  of  its  units,  is  a 
wholly  supersensual  conception,  and  one  on  whose 
partial  realization  in  scientific  measurements,  much 
thought  has  been  bestowed.  To  reduce  matter  in 
its  secondary  forms  to  proximately  exact  units  and 
fixed  numerical  relations  is  a  large  part  of  the  labor 
of  the  human  mind.  So  true  is  this  in  the  range  of 
our  experience — that  very  experience  which  is  to 
give  us  the  initial  terms  of  thought — that  every  pre- 
cise numerical  relation  is  referred  to  mind  with  irre- 
sistable  force.  Two  stones  separated  by  an  exact 
familiar  interval  from  line  to  line  or  from  face  to 
face,  as  ten  feet ;  lines  cut  upon  them  so  as  to  con- 
tain definite  angles,  as  900  or  450  ;  stones  so  shaped 
that  their  surfaces  have  a  distinct  relation  to  each 
other,  or  their  edges  a  recognizable  length,  show  to 
us  beyond  controversy  the  presence  of  man.  But 
what  the  mind  of  man  is  to  the  secondary  forms  of 
matter,  that  the  Primitive  Mind  is  to  its  primary 
forms.  How  shall  we  regard  these  coarse  measure- 
ments as  the  products  of  mind,  and  overlook  the  re- 


88  PROOF   IN    THE   INORGANIC    WORLD. 

lations  of  the  much  sharper  and  more  inclusive 
mathematical  thought  which  characterize  elements 
and  elementary  construction  !  This  consideration 
should  be  enforced  by  remembering  how  purely  an 
a  priori  science  mathematics  are,  how  clearly  the 
expression  of  the  intuitive,  constructive  action  of 
the  mind.  Mathematics  are  native  in  human 
thought,  and  we  discover  them  to  be  the  key  and 
increasingly  the  key  of  the  physical  world.  But 
this  key,  hidden  in  our  own  bosoms,  we  find  assists 
us  not  merely  in  outer  relations,  partially  of  our 
own  construction  ;  it  applies  with  growing  exactness 
as  we  penetrate  to  the  heart  of  the  structure,  show- 
ing that  reason  is  older  than  the  world,  older  than 
the  elements  that  are  cast  in  its  molds. 

The  examples  of  exact  numerical  relations  are 
very  many.  As  most  of  these  have  only  recently 
come  to  the  light,  we  may  well  believe  that  there 
are  still  more  in  the  background.  If  we  define  an 
atom  as  the  least  portion  of  any  element  that  enters 
into  combination  with  other  elements  ;  and  a  mole- 
cule, as  the  least  portion  of  any  substance  which 
contains  the  properties  of  that  substance,  these 
molecules  in  all  their  varieties  are  definite  masses, 
with  an  exact  numerical  relation  and  construction 
of  atoms.  The  most  careful  structure  of  brown 
stone  is  not  so  precise  in  the  number,  relation  and 
dimensions  of  its  blocks  as  are  molecules,  the  first 
terms  in  matter,  in  their  atomic  formation.  The 
molecules  or  ultimate  masses  in  each  homogeneous 
substance  are  identical  in  structure ;  they  contain 
the  same  number  of  atoms  disposed  of  in  precisely 


NUMBER.  89 

the  same  relations  of  affinity.  Each  molecule  in 
each  simple  and  in  each  compound  has  thus  a  sym- 
bol expressing  the  kind,  number  and  connection  of 
the  atoms  of  which  it  is  composed.  There  are  occa- 
sional isomeric  forms ;  that  is  substances  whose 
molecules,  containing  the  same  atoms  and  the  same 
number  of  each,  present  different  sensible  properties. 
Thus  butyric  acid  and  acetic  ether  have  the  same 
symbol  C4H802.  This  diversity  of  properties  is  re- 
ferred to  a  difference  in  the  arrangements  of  atoms 
as  regards  their  constructive  affinities.  "  Isomeric 
compounds,  when  acted  on  by  chemical  agents, 
break  up  in  very  different  ways,"  *  and  so  indicate 
•a  diversity  of  interior  structure. 

In  this  numerical  construction  and  numerical 
identity  of  molecules  as  expressed  in  atoms  we  have 
simple,  mathematical  foundations  of  thought  in  all 
the  forms  of  matter.  The  world  has  been  put  to- 
gether in  its  first  constituents  arithmetically,  per- 
haps geometrically — that  is  with  a  fixed  position  of 
the  atoms  in  the  molecule,  since  these  atoms  are 
certainly  combined  by  fixed  affinities,  which  would 
seem  to  imply  fixed  relations  in  space. 

These  atomic  blocks  of  the  molecule  have  not  in 
each  element  the  same  combining  force,  as  so  many 
bricks  with  six  sides.  Different  atoms — that  is 
atoms  of  different  elements — present,  figuratively,  a 
different  number  of  combining  faces.  To  carry  the 
illustration  a  little  further,  atoms  are  like  blocks  cut 
for  a  more  interior  or  exterior  position,  blocks  that 
are  united  by  one,  by  two,  by  three,  by  four  or  more 
surfaces  to  the  masonry  of  which  they  form  a  part. 

*  The  New  Chemistry,  295. 


9°  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

Atoms  unite  with  each  other  in  the  molecule  by  a 
single  or  by  several  affinities,  and  thus  we  have 
univalent,  bivalent,  trivalent,  quadrivalent  atoms. 
Hydrogen  atoms  have  but  one  tie ;  carbon  atoms 
four  ties. 

Equal  volumes  of  two   gases  contain,  under  the 
same   conditions,   the   same  number    of  molecules. 
The    weights,   therefore,  of    equal   volumes  of  two 
gases  express  the  relative  weights  of  the    molecules 
of  those  gases.  But  the  molecule  of  a  pure  element 
like  hydrogen  may  be  made  up  of  more   than   one 
atom  ;  in  this  example  it  is  made  up  of  two    atoms. 
The  number  of  atoms  in  a  molecule  of  an   element 
is  inferred   from  a  study  of  the  combinations  into 
which  that    element    enters.     The    molecule    which 
contains  the  least  of   the  element   under    considera- 
tion is  supposed    to   contain    it   as    a    single    atom. 
Thus  the   molecule  of    water  is  composed   of  two 
atoms  of  hydrogen  and  one  of  oxygen,  while    other 
molecules,  as  that  of  hydrochloric  acid  contain  only 
one    atom,     H  CI.       The    hydrogen    atom    as    the 
lightest,  "  smallest  mass    of  matter    known    to   sci- 
ence has  been  chosen  as  the  unit  of   molecular   and 
atomic  weights.""    With  this  unit  of  weight,  termed 
a  microcrith,  a  table  is   constructed    expressing  in 
microcriths    the    weights    of  the     elementary     sub- 
stances.     So   fit   a  unit  of    measurement    has  thus 
been  found  in  hydrogen  that  the  atomic  weights   of 
the  elements  are  usually   expressed   in  whole  num- 
bers,   while    the    most    important    elements    in    the 
structure  of  the  world  are  especially  simple  in  their 
combining  numbers.     The  relative  weight  of  atoms 

*  The  New  Chemistry,  p.  130 


NUMBER. 


91 


being  reached  and  the  facts  being  recognized  (1) 
that  they  enter  into  the  molecules  of  all  compounds 
in  definite  numbers,  (2)  with  a  fixed  number  of  ties 
in  each  elementary  atom,  (3)  and  with  a  settled  re- 
lation of  these  ties  to  each  other,  we  have  at  once  a 
complete  numerical  expression  for  every  molecule, 
the  most  complex,  with  a  defined  relation  of  its 
parts.  Whether  these  connections  do  or  do  not  ap- 
pear in  the  make  up  of  the  molecule  as  geometri- 
cal forms,  the  real  relations  of  the  atoms  may  be 
correctly  presented  to  the  eye  in  this  way,  and  the 
structure  of  the  molecule  becomes  as  simply  mathe- 
matical as  any  product  whatever  of  mind. 

If  the  imagination  fully  takes  in  this  fact  it  can 
hardly  appear  less  in  its  rational  force  than  the  seal 
of  mind  set  in  the  very  outset  upon  matter.  As  a 
plum  to  the  whole  earth,  so  in  size  are  the  atoms  in- 
cluded in  a  drop  of  water  to  the  drop  itself. 
Whether  we  image  these  atoms  as  built  into  the 
molecule  like  faced  stones  in  masonry,  or  in  con 
stant  motion  in  vortex  rings,  as  Sir  William 
Thompson  conjecturally  presents  them,*  we  have 
equally,  and  with  equal  marvelousness,  that 
measurement  of  parts  and  definiteness  of  construc- 
tion which  everywhere  in  human  experience  are  the 
indices  of  mind. 

If  it  be  thought  that  these  facts  are  explicable  by 
supposing  intelligence  in  a  rudimentary  form  to  be 
found  far  down  in  matter,  we  make  answer  ;  (1)  that 
this  statement  itself  offers  itself  to  us  as  simply 
words  with  no  illustration  in  anything  found  in 
human  experience;  and  (2)  that  the  intelligence  dis- 

*  Recent  Advances  in  Physical  Science,  p.  294. 


92  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

closed  in  the  molecules  of  matter  is  not  germinal 
intelligence  but  intelligence  of  the  largest  range. 
There  is  either  here  no  thought  or  the  most  com- 
plete thought,  no  wisdom,  or  perfect  wisdom.  But 
if  this  is  not  wisdom,  when  we  consider  the  immedi- 
ate and  the  ultimate  results,  then  we  should  alter 
our  definition  of  wisdom. 

This  numercial  composition  of  the  molecule,  by 
which  the  number  of  its  atoms  is  fixed  and  the 
affinities  of  each  atom  are  exhausted,  involves  a  com- 
bination of  elements  in  all  compounds,  both  by  de- 
terminate weights  and  determinate  volumes — when 
the  form  is  that  of  a  gas — and  under  numbers  in 
each  element  which  are  multiples  of  the  atomic 
weight  of  that  element.  These  relations  are  not 
merely  proximate,  they  are  exact,  and  carry  the  nu- 
merical idea  thoroughly  through  the  foundations  of 
all  physical  structure. 


Nit 

rogci 

n  by  Weight. 

Oxygen 

Nitrous  oxide 

28 

16 

Nitric  oxide, 

14 

16 

Nitrous  trioxide, 

28 

48 

Nitric  peroxide, 

M 

32 

Nitric  pentoxide, 

23 

80 

Other  relations  in  the  same  direction  arc  appear- 
ing and  still  others  doubtless  remain  to  be  discov- 
ered. The  structure  of  the  molecule  grows  out  of 
(1)  the  atom  as  the  ultimate  part  into  which  any 
element  can  be  divided  and  (2)  the  quantivalence  of 
these  atoms.  "  What  is  true  of  the  atoms  of  gold 
and  phosphorus  is  true  of  all  those  elements    which 


NUMBER. 


93 


have  several  degrees  of  quantivalence.  At  each 
successive  step  the  quantivalence  increases  by  two 
bonds,  and  never  by  a.  single  bond.  The  explana- 
tion is  thought  to  be  that  the  bonds  of  any  atom 
when  not  in  use  to  hold  other  atoms,  are  satisfied  by 
each  other,  and  that  so  far  as  the  increased  bonds 
are  concerned,  the  atom  is  in  the  condition  of  a 
horse-shoe  magnet  with  its  north  pole  directed  to  its 
south  pole."* 

So  thoroughly  does  this  quantivalence  of  atoms 
guide  the  chemist  in  understanding  the  structure  of 
molecules,  that  he  is  often  able  to  explain  the  differ- 
ence in  the  properties  of  isomeric  bodies  by  refer- 
ring it  to  the  distinct  ways  in  which  the  same  atoms 
can  be  combined  in  the  molecules  of  the  two  forms, 
and  also  to  secure  new  compounds  and  isomeric 
forms  by  following  the  suggestion  of  the  possible 
combinations  and  arrangements  of  the  atoms  in  a 
molecule. 

§  5.  Water  has  a  greater  capacity  for  heat  than 
any  other  substance.  The  unit  of  heat  is  the 
amount  of  heat  required  to  raise  one  pound  of  water 
one  degree  Fahrenheit.  The  part  of  this  unit  which 
it  requires  to  raise  a  like  amount  of  any  other  sub- 
stance one  degree  is  its  specific  heat.  The  product 
of  this  fraction  in  each  instance  into  the  atomic 
weight  of  the  element  to  which  it  belongs  has  been 
found  to  approach  so  nearly  to  the  number  6.39 
to  give  rise  to  the  belief  that  the  discrepancies  are 
due  to  a  diversity  in  secondary  circumstances,  and 
that  "  if  substances  could  be  compared  in  precisely 
the  same  state,  it  is  possible  that  the  above  product 

*  The  New  Chemistry,  p.  241. 


94  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD- 

would  be  constant."  *  Hence  it  is  inferred  that  the 
atoms  of  each  different  element  have  the  same  ca- 
pacity for  heat,  and  that  a  pound,  therefore,  of  any 
element  will  be  raised  in  temperature  one  degree 
with  more  or  less  heat  according  to  the  number  of 
atoms  it  contains. 

Elementary  substances  can  also  be  arranged  in 
families  in  such  a  way  that  the  combining  numbers 
of  the  members  of  each  family  shall  differ  from 
each  other  by  multiples  of  a  fixed  number,  as  9  or 
8  or  5.  Thus  ozone,  fluorine,  cyanogen,  chlorine, 
bromine,  iodine,  form  one  series,  the  combining  num- 
bers being  8,  17,  26,  35,  80,  125.  These  numbers 
differ  from  each  other  by  nine  and  the  multiples  of 
nine.f  The  numerical  relations  which  enter  into 
the  molecule  may  not,  in  all  cases,  have  any  definite 
significancy  for  us  ;  they  none  the  less  mark  the  pre- 
cision which  belongs  to  mind,  and  hold  their  reserved 
truths.  If  it  be  said  that  the  argument  overleaps 
itself,  for  here  it  is  found  as  a  fact  that  matter  in- 
volves the  same  exact  relations  as  those  of  mind, 
wre  answer,  (1)  that  we  are  to  determine  what 
belongs  to  matter  as  matter,  and  to  mind  as 
mind,  by  their  respective  action  within  the  range  of 
experience,  and  so  interpret  the  facts  beyond  expe- 
rience ;  and  (2)  that,  for  reasons  sufficiently  urged, 
the  ultimate  construction  of  matter  cannot  be  re- 
ferred to  matter  itself.  It  must  be  either  referred 
to  mind  or  left  unreferred.  Mind  may  begin,  mat- 
ter can  not. 

§  6.  We  have  in  crystals,  as  a  result  of  free  molec- 

*  Ibid,  p.  133. 

f  Religion  and  Chemistry,  p.  291. 


NUMBER.  95 

ular  arrangement,  new  forms  of  mathematical  ref- 
lations, disclosed  in  lines,  angles,  surfaces  and  solids. 
Freezing  water  is  interlaced  with  straight  lines,  while 
snowflakes  arrange  themselves  under  a  variety  of 
star-like  forms,  whose  constructive  angle  is  in  each 
instance  6o°.  A  solution  of  sal-ammoniac  sends  out 
its  filaments  at  an  angle  of  900  or  of  450.  This  sym- 
metry, under  favoring  circumstances,  is  carried  into 
solids,  and  we  have  six  systems  of  crystals,  divided 
by  the  number,  position  and  relative  length  of 
their  axes.  In  these  systems  we  have  symmetry  of 
surfaces  and  exact  angular  measurements.  When  the 
molecules  of  any  particular  substance  are  left  freely 
to  their  constructive  attractions,  they  arrange  them- 
selves in  passing  into  a  solid  in  various  forms,  in 
which  the  mathematical  idea  of  exact  numerical  re- 
lations finds  complete  expression.  "The  position 
of  planes  is  related  in  some  simple  ratio  to  the  rela- 
tive lengths  of  the  axes  of  a  crystal."  *  This  law 
gives  a  mathematical  basis  to  the  science  beyond 
that  involved  in  mere  symmetry. 

The  general  combining  force  in  nature,  that  of 
gravity,  works  under  a  definite  law,  and  has  thus 
become  the  germ  of  stellar  systems  and  cosmical 
construction.  This  first  work  it  accomplishes  while 
in  a  hundred  ways  giving  conditions  to  all  secondary 
inorganic  and  organic  processes,  and  modifying  their 
results.  Out  of  the  law  of  gravitation  spring  the 
three  laws  of  Kepler — the  ellipticity  of  the  orbits 
of  planets,  the  description  by  the  radius  vector  of 
each  planet  of  equal  spaces  in  equal  times,  and  the 
equality  of  ratios  between  the  squares  of  the  periods 
*  Dana's  System  of  Mineralogy,  p.  49. 


o5  proof  in  the  inorganic  world. 

of  revolution  of  any  two  planets  and  the  cube  of 
their  mean  distances  from  the  sun.  These  laws, 
with  the  larger  share  of  astronomical  knowledge, 
only  express  the  force  of  the  first  simple  law.  Some 
are  ready  to  feel  that  a  law,  like  that  of  gravitation, 
loses  proof  of  design  by  its  very  breadth  and  inte- 
rior necessity.  We  may  at  some  time  be  able  to 
show  that  this  law  of  gravitation  is  not  an  ultimate 
fact,  but  is  involved  in  deeper  facts,  precisely  as  it 
itself  now  carries  with  it  so  many  secondary  facts. 
This  depth  to  which  thought  extends,  this  range  of 
the  first  pregnant  principle,  are  in  themselves  fitted 
to  emphasize  the  priority  of  mind  to  matter.  If 
matter  offered  itself  to  mind  in  all  our  cosmogony 
as  simply  inert,  indifferent  material,  we  might  well 
affirm  its  ultimate  independence.  But  when  we 
find,  and  increasingly  find  as  we  more  fully  under- 
stand it,  that  laws,  definite  relations,  forces  working 
from  the  outset  toward  given  results,  belong  to  its 
simplest  forms  and  compose  its  properties,  we  are 
assured  that  its  primordial  elements  are  only  the 
first  terms  of  intelligence.  However  deep  we  dig 
down,  mind  is  deeper,  and  has  fully  begun  its  work 
on  the  foundations  of  the  world. 

When  we  are  dealing  with  such  energies  as  heat 
and  light,  mathematical  relations  still  go  with  us, 
and  give  us,  as  terms  of  thought,  our  chief  power 
of  comprehension  and  use.  A  remarkable  example 
of  this  is  offered  in  the  lines  of  the  spectrum. 
These  disclose  to  us,  now  by  their  fixed  position, 
and  now  by  their  slight  displacement,  the  elements 
of  distant  heavenly  bodies,   the   condition  of  these 


NUMBER.  97 

elements,  the  motion  of  these  bodies  and   its  direc- 
tion, with  a  proximate  estimate  of  its  rapidity. 

In  proportion  as  things  offer  themselves  more  di- 
rectly to  our  senses,  in  proportion  as  properties  are 
more  numerous  and  forms  are  more  complex,  the 
simpler  mathematical  relations  disappear.  The 
world  starts,  as  each  mind  starts,  in  mathematical 
elements  which  are  swallowed  up  in  the  growing 
aggregate.  In  the  vegetable  kingdom,  number  and 
figure  retain  very  considerable  ground,  though  the 
living  powers  are  constantly  breaking  over  them. 
The  parts  of  flowers  show  an  extended  and  beauti- 
ful combination  of  simple  numbers  and  simple 
positions.  In  animal  life  this  kind  of  symmetry  is 
confined  to  its  lowest  forms ;  higher  up  it  is  dis- 
placed by  more   complex  and  significant  relations. 

In  the  spiritual  world  another  set  of  ideas  finds 
entrance,  beauty,  truth  and  right.  No  possible 
analysis  can  carry  these  back  to  simple  material 
qualities  or  physical  relations.  But  if  we  admit 
them  to  be,  in  reference  to  matter,  transcendental 
ideas,  then  the  whole  material  world  has  been  press- 
ing up,  by  stages  of  development,  to  forms  of  action 
and  thought  not  contained  in  itself.  This  entrance 
last  of  the  highest  ideas  of  reason,  shows  that 
the  evolution  of  the  world  has  been  progressive 
under  the  motives  and  measurements  of  mind,  and 
and  not  under  those  of  the  senses  or  of  material 
forces.  These  were  more  explicit  at  the  beginning 
than  at  the  end,  save  as  more  spiritual  life  has  en- 
tered into  their  comprehension.  The  lower  is  trans- 
formed in  the  later  stages  of  development,  not  so 


9§  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

much  in  itself  as  in  the  higher  spiritual  powers 
brought  to  its  apprehension.  But  if  the  spiritual  is 
put  last  and  highest  in  evolution,  is  it  not  because 
it  was  first  and  foremost  in  the  constructive  pur- 
pose? This  growth  toward  the  spiritual,  and  the 
ultimate  passage  of  evolution  into  it,  are  the  su- 
preme facts  to  be  felt  and  expounded. 

§  7.  We  have  shown  matter  to  be  permeated  by 
ideas  of  reason,  as  those  of  resemblance,  causation 
and  number.  This  proof  might  go  much  further. 
Resemblances,  for  instance,  are  constant  terms  of 
thought,  and  the  world  is  so  full  of  them,  that  all  its 
material,  in  every  aspect  of  it,  takes  on  the  classifica- 
tions of  science.  Still  farther,  however,  matter  is 
not  merely  constructed,  it  is  constructive.  We  first 
regard  matter  as  something  inert,  something  which 
offers  resistance,  and  is  not  easily  gotten  rid  of.  A 
better  understanding  presents  it  to  us  as  distinct 
centres  of  distinct  forces,  and  its  properties  as  per- 
manent powers.  Matter  is  not  passive  but  active, 
and  is  accompanied  with  wonderful  changes  of  ac- 
tivity, as  it  takes  upon  itself  new  forms,  or  enters 
into  new  combinations.  The  energies  of  nature, 
which  as  mechanical, chemical,  thermal,  electric  forces 
are  expressed  in  cohesion,  attraction,  pressure,  mo- 
tion, and  which  play  upon  matter  in  masses  and  in 
molecules,  are  permanent,  often  in  some  very  ob- 
scure but  real  form  of  action.  The  material  world 
thus  ceases  to  be  to  our  thought  indifferent  and 
inert,  and  becomes  positive  and  active,  a  present  ex- 
penditure of  energies  for  immediate  ends,  an  omni- 
present power. 


PROPORTIONS. 


99 


But  the  activities  expressed  in  matter  and  in  mo- 
tion are  each  of  a  definite  nature,  and  taken  collec- 
tively— 66  elements  and  a  half-dozen  energies — con- 
stitute a  limited  variety  of  things  which  stand  in 
wonderfully  fruitful  relations  to  each  other.  Hence 
these  forces,  as  active  and  related  forces,  have  upon 
them  all  the  marks  of  mind.  They  are  each  in- 
stantly expressed  in  a  service  ;  they  are  in  a  thousand 
ways  united  to  each  other  in  their  services ;  and 
they  carry  forward  their  services  in  a  well-ordered 
plan.  They  are  also,  in  their  relations  to  each  other 
in  time  and  in  space  and  in  their  several  quantities, 
ready  for  their  work.  The  world  is  not  simply  made 
up  of  fitting  kinds  of  matter;  it  is  made  up  of  them 
with  great  diversities  in  quantity,  and  in  needful 
positions  and  periods,  in  reference  to  each  other. 
The  world,  though  a  more  irregular  structure  than  a 
dwelling,  is  one  far  more  marvelous  in  the  quanti- 
ties, adaptations  and  local  relations  of  its  several 
kinds  of  material.  Is  it  not  the  silence  and  grandeur 
of  the  work  that  hide  its  precision  of  method  from 
us?  If  certain  materials,  fitted  for  specific  offices 
and  united  in  appropriate  quantities  to  reach  dis- 
tinct ends,  are  undeniable  indications  of  mind  with- 
in the  range  of  human  experience,  so  ought  they  to 
be  beyond  that  range ;  nor  should  the  energy  of  the 
forces  nor  their  persistency  of  action  disguise  the 
vigorous  hold  of  reason  upon  them.  Their  relations 
expounded  to  us  by  thought  do  exist  in  them  each 
moment,  do  accompany  them  from  stage  to  stage, 
as  pressing  on  they  accomplish  a  marvelous  creation. 
How  do   they  exist?     What  other  proof  could  be 


IOO  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

given  of  the  pervasive  presence  of  mind  in  matter? 
What  other  proof  is  there  than  this  of  the  soul  of 
man  in  the  body  of  man?  Action,  a  definite  fitness 
in  each  action,  a  combination  of  definitely  fit  actions, 
the  concurrence  of  all  in  a  progressive  work  by 
quality,  quantity,  place  and  time,  are  all  present  to 
emphasize  the  reason  that  overrules  the  world. 

But  it  is  said  that  law  and  order  may  as  truly  in- 
here in  matter  as  in  mind  ;  that  this  is  what  the  facts 
offered  disclose  ;  and  that  we  are  not  at  liberty  to 
affirm  that  in  cosmic  facts  order  is  any  longer  an  in- 
dex of  mind.  A  strange  conclusion  this  to  be  for- 
mulated by  Empirical  Philosophy!  If  there  is  any- 
thing which  experience,  within  its  own  proper  field, 
at  work  on  the  principles  of  knowledge,  can  assert 
with  certainty,  it  is  that  definite  construction  ex- 
presses mind  and  the  want  of  it  matter. 

It  may  be  urged  that  an  experience  so  late  and  so 
narrow  as  ours  cannot  define  distinctions  so  broad 
and  so  universal  as  these  between  matter  and  mind. 
Certainly,  then,  such  an  experience  can  not  over- 
throw these  distinctions.  The  fact  that  certain  dis- 
tinctions are  here  and  now  fundamental,  the  very 
first  terms  in  experience,  carries  with  it,  till  contra- 
dicted by  definite  knowledge,  a  presumption  of  the 
strongest  character  that  these  diversities  have  ex- 
isted from  the  beginning:  that  the  end  does  but 
declare  the  beginning.  So  it  is  that  we  reason  in 
geology,  in  physics,  everywhere.  By  experience 
we  must  mean  experience  proper,  temporal  experi- 
ence ;  it  is  this  that  we  are  bringing  to  the  interpre- 
tation of  cosmic  experience.      It   is   the   nature   of 


INDESTRUCTIBILITY    OF     MATTER.  IOI 

these  cosmic  activities  that  is  the  subject  of  discus- 
sion. 

§  8.  It  may  be  further  urged  that  there  is  an 
obvious  difference  which  destroys  the  force  of  the 
analogy,  and  calls  for  a  very  different  interpretation. 
Matter  and  force  are  indestructible,  are  consequent- 
ly eternal,  and  therefore  there  is  no  place  for  the 
prior  action  of  mind  in  them  and  through  them. 
This  objection  needs  thorough  consideration.  The 
indestructibility  of  matter  and  the  correlation  of 
energies  do  not  carry  with  them  the  eternity  of  the 
physical  world.  If  they  did,  the  present  argument 
would  wholly  fail. 

Plainly  the  permanence  of  the  present  system, 
once  entered  on,  is  an  essential  part  of  the  laws 
which  control  it,  and  of  the  constructive  purposes 
it  subserves.  If  matter  or  energy  were  suddenly  to 
disappear,  or  suddenly  appear  under  man's  hand- 
ling, confusion  and  danger  would  prevail  at  once. 
No  more  pervasive  form  of  disorder  could  be  in- 
troduced. The  mere  fixedness  of  laws,  therefore, 
which  owe  their  present  value  to  their  certainty, 
proves  nothing  as  to  the  eternity  of  the  entire  sys- 
tem to  which  they  belong. 

"Matter  is  indestructible,  and  is  measured  by 
weight ;  energy  is  indestructible,  aud  is  measured  by 
work ;  intelligence  is  indestructible,  and  is  measured 
by  adaptations.  These  great  truths  explain  and 
supplement  each  other."  *  These  statements  plainly 
cannot  remain  in  the  form  in  which  Prof.  Cooke  has 
left  them.  If  these  three  eternities  are  co-equal,  the 
first  two,   matter  and  energy,  exclude  the  third,  in- 

*  The  New  Chemistry,  p.  208. 


102  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC     WORLD. 

tclligence,  by  leaving  nothing  which  it  can  do,  no- 
thing by  which  it  expresses  itself.  Affirm  the  full 
eternity  of  mind  alone,  and  the  permanence  of  mat- 
ter and  energy  in  the  present  system  of  things  be- 
comes only  an  expression  of  preceding  wisdom. 

I.  This  result  leads  us  to  a  closer  scrutiny  of 
the  assertion  that  matter  and  energy  are  eternal. 
Our  proof  of  this  assertion   is  very  slight.     It  is  a 

lusion  drawn  from  their  indestructibility  under 
the   hand    of  man.       Evidently  the   solar  system   is 
not    eternal,  nor  any  other   system  in  the  Univ 
Nor  i-  it  p  i   iibl  '   any  probable    relations 

of  matter  and  of  energy  which    would    result   in   an 
nal  series  of  such  systems.     Evolution  involves 
finiteness  as  its  essential  conditi  >n.  h,  meas- 

ured by  stages  and  lying  between  definite  terms, 
can  not  extend  from  eternity  to  eternity.  The 
length  of  the  included  period  is  immaterial.  The 
tree  that  lives  a  thousand  years  is  no  more  eternal 
than  the  fungus  who  I  within  a 

few  days.     (  tern    is  a  definite  evolution  be- 

tween definite  conditions,  nebulosity  on  the  one 
hand  and  solidification  on  the  other.  In  the  move- 
ment from  the  one  to  the  other,  there  is  a  constant 
dispersion  of  light  and  heat.  This  dispersion  seems 
to  be  equivalent,  as  far  as  all  constructive  purp< 
are  concerned,  to  annihilation.  It  is  not  easy,  in 
reference  to  ultimate  results,  to  distinguish  betw<  en 
the  two.  Our  system,  a  type  of  every  other  system, 
has  had,  and  can  have,  only  a  definite  period  of  dis- 
tinct evolution.  No  sufficient  suggestion  can  be 
given  of  the  way  in  which   this   period  was  entered 


ETERNITY    OF     MATTER.  103 

on,  otherwise  than  by  creation,  nor  how  the  inert- 
ness and  death  into  which  this  system  must  ulti- 
mately pass  are  to  be  escaped,  otherwise  than  by  a 
destructive  and  renovating  action.  As  certainly  as 
the  present  state  of  the  world  has  been  reached  by 
definite  stages,  springing  from  fitting  terms,  so  cer- 
tainly can  it  not  have  transcended  these  terms  by 
all  eternity  ;  as  certainly  as  it  is  passing  into  new 
results,  it  cannot,  by  all  eternity,  leave  those  results 
behind  it.  As  a  growth — an  evolution — the  world, 
if  no  comparatively  proximate  starting  point  had 
been  given  it,  must  have  passed  away  long  a^°>  lost, 
as  a  mere  speck  of  time  in  the  past  eternity.  No- 
thing by  mere  stages  of  construction  could  reach 
down  out  of  by-gone  ages  to  the  present  hour. 

An  effort  is  made  to  turn  nature,  as  represented 
in  the  solar  system,  into  a  circle,  and  to  escape  both 
a  beginning  and  an  end.  The  effort  is  vain.  If,  as 
has  been  suggested,  the  planets  were  ultimately  to 
fall  into  the  sun,  the  collision  would  not  restore  the 
primitive  state,  nor  the  full  potentialities  by  which 
the  work  that  has  now  been  done  could  be  repeated. 
Much  the  larger  portion  of  the  energy  once  con- 
tained in  the  solar  system  has  been  dispersed  by 
the  radiation  of  heat,  and  there  is  no  known  method 
by  which  this  energy  is  to  be  gathered  again,  or 
even  put  to  constructive  service  elsewhere. 

Experience,  then,  can  not  affirm  the  eternity  of 
matter  and  energy,  much  less  affirm  it  in  a  form 
which  would  account  for  the  creative  work  going  on 
about  us  The  conclusions  of  science  lie  in  the 
opposite  direction.     The  world  wanes  in  power  as 


104  PROOF     IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

certainly  as  a  heated  ball  cools  in  the  open  air ;  nor 
is  there  any  indication  of  any  method  by  which  this 
power  is  to  be  restored. 

The  correlation  of  forces — energies — does  not 
carry  with  it  eternal  evolution,  but  the  opposite 
rather.  Energies  that  are  put  to  any  work  are  ex- 
hausted by  that  work  as  working  powers,  as  much 
as  man  himself,  who  is  one  expression  of  them.  A 
certain  condition  of  energies  is  called  for  before 
work  can  be  done,  and  that  condition  is  lost  by  the 
work  that  follows  from  it.  The  three  chief  forms 
of  potential  energy  in  the  world  are  suspended 
bodies,  heated  bodies,  and  bodies  of  a  high  chemi- 
cal composition.  But  the  weight  falls  in  perform- 
ing labor,  the  heat  is  lost,  and  the  chemical  relation 
is  broken  up.  We  can  not  restore  the  height,  nor 
the  fuel,  nor  the  food,  without  a  fresh  draft  on  our 
original  resources.  Every  change  by  which  work  is 
done  is  thus  a  fresh  reduction  of  potentialities,  and 
looks  to  their  ultimate  exhaustion.  There  is  no 
more  perpetual  motion  in  the  Universe  as  a  whole, 
than  in  any  of  its  parts.  The  revolution  of  the 
Earth  in  its  orbit,  if  it  involves  any  work,  any  in- 
sistence less  or  more,  must  come  to  an  end.  All 
the  changes  involved  in  labor  are  from  mutable  to 
stable  equilibrium.  The  constructive  power  at  any 
one  time  present  in  the  solar  system  is  wholly  a 
finite  quantity,  steadily  reduced  by  expenditure.  Po- 
tential energy  passes  into  kinetic  energy,  and  is 
then  dispersed  in  some  form  of  work,  the  ultimate 
escape  being  chiefly  in  the  radiation  of  heat.  When 
then  the  sun,  the  present   reservoir   of  energy,  shall 


EQUIVALENCE    OF     ENERGIES.  10$ 

cease  its  radiation,  stillness  and  death  will  follow. 
Force  is  not  eternal  within  the  range  of  one's  own 
experience,  in  the  sense  that  it  is  always  equal  to 
itself,  or  always  ready  for  renewed  expenditure. 
The  law  of  equivalence  applies  to  energies  not  to 
forces ;  that  is,  to  certain  available  reservoirs  of 
power,  as  falling  water,  fuel  in  the  furnace,  and  food 
in  the  animal.  These  energies  take  a  common  term 
of  measurement,  can  be  expressed  in  each  other, 
and,  in  a  limited  degree,  can  be  interchanged  with 
each  other.  But  these  energies  are  not  only  ex- 
haustible, they  are  suffering  constant  exhaustion, 
and  passing  into  forms  no  longer  available. 

Forces  on  the  other  hand,  are  not  known  to  be 
equivalent.  I  press  the  table  before  me  with  my 
hand,  or  I  press  it  with  a  ruler  one  foot  long,  two 
feet  long,  three  feet  long.  I  can  make  no  assertion 
in  reference  to  the  forces  of  resistance  called  out 
between  the  molecules  of  the  table  and  of  the  rulers 
by  the  energy  thus  put  forth.  If  the  rope  by  which 
I  drag  a  stone  be  one  hundred  feet  in  length,  there 
must  be  a  corresponding  multiplication  of  actions 
and  reactions  before  the  energy  expended  reaches 
the  load.  The  relation  of  these  forces  are  much  too 
subtle  for  our  measurement,  The  rope,  having  en- 
dured repeatedly  the  strain  of  many  tons,  seems  to 
remain  exactly  what  it  was  in  the  outset.  The 
forces  within  itself  seem  to  disappear  the  moment 
the  load  is  taken  off.  The  real  point  of  knowledge 
and  of  interest  in  the  pressure  of  my  hand  upon  the 
table  is,  that  the  potential  energy  of  my  muscles  is 
being  expended,  and  that  this  energy  is  passing  from 


I06  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

a  plain,  palpable  and  available,  to  an  obscure,  im- 
palpable and  unavailable  form.  Any  perpetuity, 
therefore,  of  matter  and  of  energy  which  pertains  to 
the  present  system  of  things  does  not  carry  with  it 
the  eternity  of  that  system,  nor  of  its  constituents. 
That  system,  on  the  other  hand,  must  have  had  a 
definite  beginning  of  some  kind.  Its  very  motion  in- 
volves its  finiteness,  a  point  from  which  it  has  come 
and  to  which  it  is  going.  We  seem,  as  the  fruit  of  the 
discussion,  to  be  entitled  to  the  following  proposi- 
tions, (i)  All  movement  as  evolution  in  the  Uni- 
verse is  due  to  unequilibrated  forces  passing  into 
equilibrium  ;  (2)  unequilibrated  forces  cannot  start 
from  equilibrated  ones ;  (3)  unequilibrated  forces, 
involving  a  perpetual  passage  into  equilibrated  ones 
cannot  have  existed  from  eternity;  (4)  they  must  at 
length  end  in  equilibrium  ;  (5)  evolution  does  not 
admit  the  eternity  of  matter. 

§  10.  We  wish  to  impress  the  thoroughly  con- 
structive relations  which  inhere  in  matter  by  a  few 
examples.  We  need,  in  the  outset,  to  anticipate 
the  feeling  that  these  relations  arise  so  much  from 
the  very  nature  of  the  case  as  to  express  no  pur- 
pose. They  are  so  thoroughly  reasonable,  they  rest 
in  so  direct  a  way  on  primary  properties,  that  when 
we  understand  them,  we  are  inclined  to  feel  that 
they  could  not  have  been  otherwise.  They  lie  back 
of  human  thought,  why  not  of  the  divine  thought ! 
Not  so.  They  should  show  us  rather  how  profound- 
ly mind  pervades  matter,  and  makes  the  whole 
physical  realm  rational.  There  is  no  other  necessity 
in  things  save  that  which  reason  puts  there. 


AFFINITIES    OF     ELEMENTS.  \OJ 

We  first  instance  the  varying  affinities  of  elements 
for  each  other,  and  these  affinities  as  affected  by 
temperature.  The  affinities  of  any  elements  for 
each  other  are  ultimate  facts, — the  assertion  remains 
the  same  even  "  if  chemism  is  a  mode  of  polarity  " 
— yet  in  these  affinities  and  in  their  relation  to  each 
other  in  energy  are  lodged  the  first  constructive  forces 
of  the  Universe.  These  elements  may  be  arranged 
in  order,  each  preceding  element  having  less  affinity 
for  those  which  precede  it,  than  do  those  which  fol- 
low it.  They  thus  lie  between  positive  and  negative 
poles,  with  a  variable  intensity  as  they  approach  the 
one  or  the  other.  Oxygen  closes  the  series  at  the 
negative  pole,  and  is  possessed  of  a  most  intense 
and  extended  affinity.  Constituting  about  one-half 
the  globe,  it  becomes,  by  virtue  both  of  quantity 
and  by  its  active  combining  power,  the  great  con- 
structive agent  in  purely  chemical  changes.  Oxi- 
dation, or  union  of  other  elements  with  oxygen,  be- 
comes a  most  pervasive  and  spontaneous  tendency, 
keeping  the  elements  in  definite  chemical  activity. 
What  gravitation  is  to  moving  bodies,  this  oxidation 
is  to  moving  molecules.  Oxidation  represents  the 
lowest  level  to  which  the  elements  sink  in  seeking 
equilibrium.  To  this  point  they  fall,  and  from  this, 
they  are  raised  again  by  all  opposing  energies. 

Besides  this  affinity  for  oxygen,  each  element  has 
its  subordinate  affinities,  discharging  specific  offices 
and  modifying  ultimate  results.  These  affinities  are 
the  active  and  carefully  graded  agencies  in  furnish- 
ing the  frame-work  of  order.  These  affinities  are 
affected  by  mechanical   conditions,  and  so  put  into 


IOS  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

interplay  with  mechanical  forces.  Above  all,  are 
they  modified  by  temperature.  Temperature  is  a 
controlling  condition  in  chemical  combination,  and 
affects  different  elements  very  differently.  The 
forms  in  which  the  several  elements  and  compounds 
exist,  and  the  temperatures  at  which  they  pass  from 
a  solid  to  a  liquid,  or  from  a  liquid  to  a  gaseous 
form,  have  most  important  and  complicated  bear- 
ings on  their  constructive  services  in  the  world. 
The  liquid,  and  still  more  the  gaseous  form,  as  giv- 
ing the  greatest  liberty  of  movement,  favor  chemi- 
cal combination.  Oxygen  envelops  the  world  as  an 
abundant,  permanent  gas,  and  thus  holds  its  great 
power  in  an  omnipresent  form. 

It  is  impossible  to  state  with  any  fulness,  or 
indeed  to  conceive  with  any  clearness,  the  com- 
plexity yet  importance  of  the  results  in  world-mak- 
ing, which  turn  on  the  intervention  of  chemical 
affinities  and  physical  forms  as  modified  by  tempera- 
ture, affecting  each  element  in  its  own  way.  Single 
illustrations,  though  only  two  or  three  among  a  mul- 
titude, may  help  the  thoughts  by  nearness  of  vision. 
The  most  common  artificial  lights  are  the  result  of 
the  combustion  of  hydrogen  and  carbon  with  oxy- 
gen. Take  a  common  oil  lamp.  The  flame  is 
initiated  by  the  hydrogen,  and  owes  its  luminous 
power  to  the  carbon.  A  series  of  simple,  consecu- 
tive relations  are  involved  in  this  result,  all  of  which 
concur  in  its  easy,  successful  attainment. 

(i)  The  hydrogen  of  the  oil  is  set  free  and  in- 
flamed at  a  readily  attainable  heat.  (2)  The  heat 
from  the  combustion  of  one  molecule  liberates  the 


LIGHT.  109 

next  molecule,  and  furnishes  the  conditions  for  its 
combustion.  This  movement  is  neither  inconveni- 
ently rapid  nor  slow.  The  oil  does  not  refuse  to 
burn,  like  wet  fuel ;  or  flash  into  flame,  like  powder. 
(3)  The  liberated  carbon  does  not  unite  with  oxy- 
gen till  it  has  been  heated  to  a  white  heat  in  the 
hydrogen  flame.  (4)  This  union  then  takes  place 
in  the  same  quiet  continuous  form  as  that  of  the 
hydrogen  and  oxygen.  (5)  Both  forms  of  combus- 
tion yield  harmless  products  that  pass  off  freely,  the 
one  vapor,  the  other  carbonic  acid  gas.  (6)  This 
process  admits  of  being  made  complete  by  the  sim- 
plest fixtures  of  an  ordinary  lamp.  The  draught 
of  the  chimney  furnishes  air  enough  to  consume  all 
the  carbon ;  the  lamp  ceases  to  smoke,  and  the 
clearest  light  is  obtained. 

Such  instances  are  not  interesting  as  standing 
alone,  but  as  being  everywhere  present,  and  as  pro- 
foundly involved  in  first  principles.  They  are  not 
the  results  of  secondary  contrivances,  they  are  part 
of  the  primitive  provision  ;  they  are  only  one  articu- 
late sound  in  the  full  sentence  in  which  wisdom 
utters  her  voice.  If  these  cases  did  disclose  special 
contrivance,  and  did  not  lie  at  the  intersection  of 
general  laws,  then  would  thought  become  after- 
thought and  step  from  its  throne.  We  think  it  also 
a  legitimate  deepening  of  the  impression  to  be  re- 
minded, that  so  many  of  these  relations  are  adapted 
both  to  the  wants  and  powers  of  man  as  an  intel- 
lectual being.  An  artificial  light  is  the  necessity 
not  of  a  brute,  but  of  a  man.  It  is  reached  for  in- 
tellectual ends  by  intellectual  powers. 


HO  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

Other  illustrations  are  offered  by  gunpowder  and 
nitro-glycerine  or  dynamite.  These  are  both  very 
essential  agents  in  civilization.  Our  greatest  labors 
in  mining  and  engineering  would  be  impossible 
without  nitro-glycerine.  The  two  materials  supple- 
ment each  other.  Powder  alone  can  be  used  as  a 
projectile  agent,  and  is  extremely  serviceable  in 
blasting  when  only  a  moderate  force  is  required. 
In  works  of  magnitude  nitro-glycerine  is  "  vastly 
superior  to  gunpowder,"  so  much  so  as  to  be  in 
many  cases  a  necessity  if  these  labors  are  to  be  pros- 
ecuted. 

This  superiority  is  due  to  its  chemical  construc- 
tion. The  explosive  powers  of  both  materials 
arise  from  the  sudden  production  of  gas.  "  Nitro- 
glycerine yields  fully  nine  hundred  times  its  volume 
of  gas,  while  with  gunpowder  the  volume  is  only 
about  three  hundred  times  that  of  the  solid 
grains."*  A  second  consideration  of  more  moment 
is  that  the  explosion  in  the  case  of  glycerine  is  in- 
staneous,  the  decomposition  extending  at  once  to 
the  whole  mass  ;  in  gunpowder  it  is  simply  rapid. 
In  both  materials  the  reaction  is  due  to  the  weak 
affinity  of  nitrogen,  and  the  explosive  force  to  the 
nitrogen,  liberated  as  gas,  and  to  the  carbonic  acid 
gas,  the  result  of  the  reaction.  "  But  while  in  the 
gunpowder,  the  carbon  and  oxygen  atoms  are  in 
different  molecules,  although  lying  side  by  side  in 
the  same  grain  ;  in  the  nitro-glycerine  they  are  in 
different  parts  of  the  same  molecule."  f  The  ease 
and   safety   in  the   use   of  gunpowder  are  found  in 

*The  New  Chemistry,  p.   224. 
f  Ibid,  p.   220. 


CARBON.  I  I  I 

the  degree  of  heat  neither  too  great  nor  too  little 
required  to  inflame  it,  but  its  want  of  full  power 
is  connected  with  the  same  cause.  Combustion,  ex- 
tending from  grain  to  grain,  is  not  instantaneous, 
and  the  first  grains  of  a  large  charge  begin  to  do 
their  work  before  the  entire  charge  is  inflamed. 
This  fact  greatly  diminishes  the  power  of  gun- 
powder as  an  explosive,  while  making  it  only  the 
more  efficient  as  a  projectile  force.  The  gun 
would  be  burst  by  instant  explosion,  while  a  con- 
tinuous explosion  follows  up  and  accelerates  the 
ball.  Nitro-glycerine  is  not  exploded  by  heat  but 
by  concussion.  "  The  flame  of  an  ordinary  match  can 
be^extinguished  in  it."*  Thus  concussion  reaches 
all  parts  instantaneously,  or  proximately  so,  and  the 
molecules  awake  their  slumbering  energies  con- 
jointly. 

The  many  organic  compounds  of  carbon  are  pe- 
culiarly unstable,  but  carbon  as  coal  is  so  inert  that 
it  can  be  treasured  anywhere  in  the  earth  for  any 
period  of  time.  There  is  to  this  assertion  the  one 
exception  on  which  the  value  of  the  coal  deposits 
depends.  Coal,  at  an  easily  attained  temperature, 
burns,  maintains  its  own  combustion,  and  yields 
heat  and  so  kinetic  energy  in  manageable  ways  and 
amounts.  Iron,  by  whose  instrumentality  this  en- 
ergy is  chiefly  turned  into  working  power,  oxidizes, 
on  the  other  hand,  slowly  at  a  low  temperature, 
while  at  a  high  temperature  oxidation  ceases. 
Heat  checks  the  combustion  of  the  furnace,  while 
it  promotes  that  of  the  coal  in  the  furnace.  The 
heated  steam  in  the  boiler  acts  on  it,  notwithstand- 

*  Ibid,  p.  216 


112  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

ing    the    increased    energy,  much    less    than   mere 
vapor. 

The  general  law  is,  all  substances  expand  by  in- 
crease of  temperature  ;  but  this  law  is   noticeably 
modified  in  the   passage  of  several   substances  from 
a  liquid  to  a   solid    form.     Nor  is  this  expansion  in 
solidification   the   same   in  degree  for  all  substances 
in  which  it  occurs.     It  has  the  form  of  variable  ex- 
ceptions for  definite  ends,  though  doubtless  a  funda- 
mental fact  grounded  in  molecular  construction.    In 
the  case  of  water,  the  expansion  is  very  decided  and 
very  influential.       Ice   becomes  buoyant,    and    the 
river  and  the  lake  are  early  protected   from  the  ex- 
treme  cold   by  a  covering  of  their   own  provision. 
The  motion   of  the  glacier,  which  has  been  so  effi- 
cient an  agent   in   the  world,  is  the  result,  in  large 
part    if   not  wholly,    of    this  fact.       If    any    sub- 
stance   expands     in    solidifying,   the    temperature 
at  which   solidification   takes   place   is  reduced  by 
pressure.      Water  boils  upon  a  mountain  at  a  lower 
temperature   than  in  the  valley.      Indeed,  it  would 
be  impossible  to  cook  food  by  boiling  in  an  open 
vessel  if  the  weight  of  the  atmosphere  were  much 
less  than  it  is.    In  the  melting  of  ice  under  pressure 
at   a   temperature   lower   than   320    Fahrenheit,   we 
have   the   reverse  of  this   principle.     Ordinarily  an 
increase  of  heat  and  a  decrease  of  pressure  occasion 
expansion.     But  when  a  decrease  of  heat  produces 
expansion,   this   expansion   being   resisted  by  pres- 
sure, takes  place  only,  if  the  pressure  is  increased,  at 
a  lower  temperature.      If  a  wire  with   a  weight  at- 
tached is  so  suspended  as  to  press  sharply  on  a  block 


METALS.  113 

of  ice,  it  may  be  made  to  cut  its  way  entirely 
through  the  block,  while  the  two  parts  reunite  be- 
hind it.  Each  portion  in  the  path  of  the  wire  thaws 
under  pressure,  and  freezes  as  the  pressure  is  re- 
moved. Thus  the  unequal  forces  which  are  spread 
through  a  glacier,  cause  the  ice  to  melt  in  the  lines 
and  planes  along  which  they  accumulate.  As  the 
ice  melts,  it  occupies  less  space  than  before,  and  mo- 
tion becomes  possible.  But  motion  relieves  the 
pressure,  and  the  surfaces  reunite  by  freezing.  We 
cut  glass,  because  glass  does  not  perfectly  fill  the 
mould  in  cooling.  Iron,  on  the  other  hand,  expands 
slightly  at  the  last  stage,  and  fills  its  limits  without 
bursting  them. 

§  11.  Quite  akin  to  the  original  diversity  in  force 
of  chemical  affinities  between  elements,  and  to  these 
affinities  as  differently  modified  by  temperature,  is 
the  variety  of  service  which  belongs  to  different  ele- 
ments and  different  compounds.  And  this  service 
is  in  turn  altered  by  changes  of  form  easily  within 
the  reach  of  man.  The  first  consideration,  the 
variety  and  aptness  of  properties  in  different  sub- 
stances, fitting  them  for  varied  offices,  presents  in  it- 
self a  broad  field.  The  metals,  iron,  lead,  zinc,  tin, 
copper,  platinum,  mercury,  silver,  gold,  offer  obvious 
illustrations  of  the  manifold  ways  in  which  the  me- 
chanical, commercial,  social,  intellectual  and  aes- 
thetical  wants  of  man  are  supplied.  The  second 
point,  the  service  of  elements  as  affected  by  me- 
chanical and  chemical  changes  within  the  reach  of 
man,  is  a  little  less  obvious  and  correspondingly 
more  fundamental.     Iron,  by  far  the  most  essential 


I  14  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

metal  in  industries,  so  much  so  that  the  free  use  of 
it  marks  an  age  in  the  history  of  the  race,  is  broadly 
and  abundantly  scattered  over  the  globe,  and  in  a 
form  which,  though  at  first  sight  it  seems  to  offer, 
and  does  offer,  an  obstruction  to  its  early  use,  is 
really  ultimately  most  favorable  for  it.  The  iron 
ores,  when  the  skill  is  present  to  use  them  and  to 
use  iron,  hold  their  wealth  in  an  open  hand.  "  A 
mine  of  solid  iron  would  hardly  pay  the  working."* 
Iron,  under  the  manipulations  of  man,  takes  on 
three  forms,  with  quite  diverse  yet  closely  united 
services,  cast  iron,  wrought  iron  and  steel.  These 
forms  are  very  different  in  their  mechanical  adapta- 
tions, and  each  form  is  very  essential.  Indeed,  steel 
is  the  crowning  power,  the  one  Protean  instrument, 
in  the  hand  of  man. 

To  these  uses  iron  adds  those  strange  magnetic 
properties  which  have  guided  men  to  new  conti- 
nents, and  made  them  explorers  of  the  world.  The 
not  less  strange  loss  and  gain  of  magnetic  quality 
by  soft  iron  under  a  changeable  electric  current  has 
been  the  condition  of  telegraphy,  and  made  the 
world  quite  another  place,  socially  and  spiritually. 

We  have  no  wish  to  amplify  at  this  point.  We 
only  wish  to  see,  and  to  be  able  to  say  distinctly, 
that  the  world,  in  its  ground-plan,  presents  endless 
corridors  with  endless  suites  of  rooms,  all  with  their 
respective  uses,  while  all  services  are  concurrent  and 
accumulative.  A  very  extended  illustration  of  this 
last  fact  is  offered  by  the  atmosphere. 

§  12.  The  chief  ingredients  in  the  atmosphere 
are : 

*  Natural  Theology,  Dr.  CHADBOURNE,  p.  244. 


ATMOSPHERE.  I  15 

Nitrogen, 77.95 

Oxygen, 20.61 

Aqueous  Vapor,     ....         1.40 
Carbonic  Acid,        ....  .04 

Other  gases,  as  ammonia,  are  very  much  less  in 
quantity.  The  gases  and  vapor  of  the  atmosphere 
exist  together  as  a  mixture,  and  not  as  a  compound. 
Each,  therefore,  is  in  the  fullest  exercise  of  its  prop- 
erties. The  free  motion  of  the  molecules  of  gases 
involves  their  rapid  and  relatively  uniform  diffusion 
through  each  other.  The  atmosphere  is  thus  a 
homogeneous  medium,  whose  density  turns  chiefly 
on  its  own  volume,  and  the  specific  gravity  of  its 
constituent  gases,  more  particularly  nitrogen. 

The  atmosphere  is  a  medium  of  motion  to  insects 
and  birds,  as  the  water  is  to  fishes.  It  is  their  field 
of  life,  while  it  presents  secondary  conditions  of 
movement  to  many  forms  of  matter,  to  seeds,  to 
animals  and  to  man  ;  to  clouds,  balloons,  missiles  and 
vessels.  As  many  things  float  in  the  water,  or  owe 
their  motion  to  the  water,  or  move  through  the 
water,  so  do  many  things  float  through  the  air,  and 
much  of  the  movement  on  the  earth  is  either  due  to 
its  action,  or  encounters  its  resistance.  If  the 
specific  gravity  of  the  atmosphere  or  its  volume 
were  materially  different,  these  mechanical  condi- 
tions would  be  correspondingly  modified.  If  it  were 
heavier,  motion  against  it  would  be  burdensome, 
and  its  own  motion  would  be  in  a  corresponding  de- 
gree irresistible.  Instead  of  the  force  of  a  wind,  it 
would  have  that  of  a  torrent.  If  it  were  less  in 
weight,  its  buoyant  quality  would   be  in   the  same 


Il6  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

measure  diminished,  and  the  air  and  the  earth  under 
it  would  be  relatively  still,  silent  and  dead. 

If  the  atmosphere  were  greater  or  less  in  volume, 
animal  life  would  require  a  new  adjustment  to  it, 
even  if  the  change  came  within  the  range  of  possible 
adjustments.  If  its  volume  were  less,  its  rarity  would 
compel  an  increase  of  lung-capacity  unfavorable  to 
symmetry,  and  of  muscular  expenditure  in  respira- 
tion in  conflict  with  efficient  work. 

But  the  atmosphere  is  also  the  one  reservoir  of 
the  material  of  life  and  the  energies  of  life,  and  as 
such  must  reach  and  envelop  every  portion  of  the 
globe.  Nor  does  it  offer  merely  the  material  and 
the  energies  of  life  ;  it  carries  with  it  in  its  oxygen 
the  working  force  in  chemical  changes  generally. 
Nitrogen  is  the  most  inert  of  gases,  oxygen  the 
most  active.  The  activity  of  the  one  is  sobered 
to  the  point  of  highest  service  by  the  passivity  of 
the  other.  If  the  proportion  between  the  two  were 
materially  altered,  either — oxygen  being  increased — 
combustion  by  its  too  great  activity  would  become 
universally  destructive,  or — nitrogen  being  increased 
— it  would  be  so  reluctant  and  tardy  as  not  to  meet 
the  purposes  of  constructive  change,  or  of  life  ;  un- 
due rapidity  or  torpidity  would  immediately  follow. 
We  should  either  not  be  able  to  kindle  a  fire  or  not 
be  able  to  extinguish  it;  we  ourselves  should  sink 
in  sensibility  to  the  cold-blooded  animals,  or  suffer 
the  exhilaration  of  constant  intoxication.  The  full 
efficiency  of  pure  oxygen  now  remains  to  us,  while  it 
is  diluted  in  daily  service  with  four  parts  of  nitrogen. 
The   air,   in    respiration,  has   sufficient    oxygen   to 


DIFFUSION.  117 

purify  the  blood,  and  give  it  afresh  all  the  conditions 
of  life  and  growth. 

Large  amounts  of  carbonic  acid  are  thrown  locally 
and  rapidly  into  the  atmosphere  by  the  respiration, 
and  still  more  by  the  combustion,  of  a  large  city  ; 
large  amounts  are  also  taken  locally  and  rapidly 
from  the  air,  as  vegetation  spreads  over  large  areas 
in  spring,  or  grows  rank  in  early  summer.  The 
atmosphere  has  sufficient  volume  not  to  be  affected 
in  its  proportions  by  these  quick  changes,  though 
carbonic  acid  constitutes  but  one  part  in  twenty-five 
hundred,  while  the  law  of  diffusion  among  gases 
immediately  and  fully  corrects  the  local  deficiencies 
or  accumulations  of  any  one  ingredient. 

The  atmosphere  has  also  a  most  important  office 
in  the  diffusion  of  light.  The  world  is  filled  with 
light,  its  rays  moving  in  all  directions  with  com- 
parative equality.  This  even,  soft  light  is  due 
largely  to  the  reflection  and  dispersion  of  its  rays 
by  the  atmosphere,  with  its  floating  air-dust. 
Instead  of  intense  cutting  beams,  coming  direct 
from  the  sun,  we  have  a  pervasive  light,  that 
presses  in  from  all  quarters,  and  goes  out  at 
all  quarters.  Though  the  sun  is  the  source  of 
light,  its  rays  are  quite  another  thing  as  filtered,  re- 
duced and  dispersed  by  the  atmosphere,  from  what 
they  are  beyond  its  range.  In  like  manner,  but 
more  directly  and  exclusively,  the  atmosphere  is 
the  medium  of  sound.  The  world  would  not  merely 
be  comparatively  dead  to  motion,  it  would  be  quite 
dead  to  sound,  were  it  not  for  the  air.  Its  density 
determines  the  presence  and  quality  of  all  sounds. 


n8 


PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 


On  it  floats  the  melody  of  waves,  the  song  of  birds, 
the  human  voice.  As  the  air  is  penetrable  to  the 
eager  eye  in  all  directions,  so  it  throbs  far  and  near 
in  motion  for  the  attentive  ear,  laden  with  the 
sweet  speech  of  nature  and  of  man.  Nor  is  this 
the  only  sense  it  addresses,  it  bears  fragrance  to  the 
nostrils,  and  brushes,  with  lightest  feather,  the  face 
and  flesh  of  man. 

In  like  manner  it  is  a  controlling  agent  in  the 
diffusion  of  heat,  turning  it  into  a  pervasive  and 
genial  presence,  in  place  of  intense  alternations  of 
heat  and  cold  alike  unbearable.  This  service  it 
performs,  directly,  by  its  own  currents  traversing  the 
globe,  and  also,  indirectly,  in  connection  with  vapor. 
The  atmosphere  is  porous  as  a  sponge  to  vapor. 
Vast  amounts,  with  an  incredible  expenditure  of 
energy,  are  taken  up,  borne  far  and  near,  and  let 
fall  as  rain  on  ocean,  upland  and  mountain.  This 
aqueous  circulation  is  the  blood-circulation  of  the 
globe,  and  is  maintained  with  an  abundant  yield  of 
mechanical  and  vital  force,  and  a  prodigal  expres- 
sion of  beauty.  In  this  process  heat  is  the  chief 
agent,  while  it  itself  is  wonderfully  spread  and  equal- 
ized by  it. 

The  average  amount  of  vapor  in  the  air  is  one  part 
in  seventy.  The  capacity  of  the  atmosphere  in  this 
particular  is  a  point  of  utmost  moment,  as  the  water- 
ing of  the  earth  turns  upon  it.  A  little  excess  in 
either  direction  is  fatal  to  vegetable  or  animal  life  or 
both.  The  rain-fall  is  comparatively  equable  in  all 
fertile  and  salubrious  portions  of  the  globe.  A 
little   failure   here   dooms   a    region    to    barrenness. 


DIFFUSION    OF    HEAT.  1TQ 

The  supply  of  rain  turns  on  this  ratio,  on  the  vol- 
ume of  the  air,  on  the  ratio  of  water  to  land,  and 
on  changes  of  temperature.  The  capacity  of  the 
air  for  vapor  increases  and  diminishes  with  tempera- 
ture. A  cool  wind,  therefore,  stealing  through  the 
atmosphere,  will  pour  down  a  plentiful  shower; 
yet  the  coldest  winds  can  not  drive  all  the  vapor 
from  the  air. 

A  large  amount  of  heat  is  consumed  in  the  pas- 
sage of  ice  into  water  and  of  water  into  steam.  In 
consequence  of  this  fact  ice  and  snow  melt  slowly 
even  in  a  high  temperature,  and  steam  forms  slowly. 
By  the  one  circumstance  we  are  saved  from  deluges 
and  by  the  other  from  explosions.  These  are  also 
facts  of  great  significance  in  the  diffusion  of  heat. 
Evaporation  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  takes  up 
the  heat  that  occasions  it  and  bears  it  off  in  a  latent 
form,  while  the  precipitation  of  rain  in  the  atmos- 
phere liberates  the  heat,  and  so  reduces  the  cold 
that  occasions  the  shower.  A  summer  rain,  or  even 
a  winter  snow-storm,  may  be  observable  for  its 
moderate,  uniform  temperature.  Even  the  hail 
modifies  the  fierce  blast  that  produces  it.  The 
snow  that  filters  out  of  the  warming  air  gives  the 
best  of  blankets  to  the  frozen  earth.  The  evapo- 
ration by  day  softens  the  intensity  of  the  sun's 
heat,  while  the  vapor  by  night  checks  the  radiation 
of  the  earth,  and  so  helps  to  hold  the  two  extremes 
of  midday  and  midnight  in  a  grateful  equipoise. 
The  simple  dryness  of  a  climate  subjects  it  to  great 
extremes  of  heat  and  cold.  The  land  that  nature 
does  not    water,    she    warms    capriciously.       Few 


120  PROOF    IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

things  are  more  beautiful  than  a  gentle  sum- 
mer shower,  and  few  things  considered  in  the  range 
of  their  causes,  are  more  quickening  to  the  intel- 
lect, or,  thought  of  in  their  benencient  purposes, 
are  more  grateful  to  the  spiritual  affections.  Each 
descending  drop  dissolves  from  the  air  the  carbonic 
acid  and  the  ammonia  that  are  to  be  the  food  of 
plants,  restores  the  air  to  purity,  robs  it  of  its  fierce 
heat  and  brings  back  a  placid  equilibrium  of  all 
angry,  thermal  and  electric  forces.  It  sends  the 
watchword  of  peace  and  plenty  through  all  the 
earth. 

When  we  add  to  these  offices  of  the  atmosphere 
which  have  been  barely  glanced  at,  the  beauty  of 
its  hourly  facts,  its  blue,  its  clouds,  and  its  mists 
we  have  indeed  a  divine  animus  in  the  air,  which 
no  sensitive  spirit  can  fail  to  see  and  feel.  What  a 
living  thing  is  the  air  ?  How  does  it  throb  with 
energies — as  the  body  with  the  soul — when  the 
morning  light  wakes  it  through  and  through  or  the 
evening  light  brings  it  to  rest  under  its  curtain  of 
purple  and  gold  ?  Hardly  is  the  face  of  man  more 
changeable  to  thought  and  feeling.  The  dove  as 
it  comes  fluttering  down  out  of  heaven,  sinking  or 
rising  with  masterful  wing,  as  it  wishes,  is  only 
one  emblem  of  this  life  of  the  air. 

Now  these  facts,  with  their  associated  facts,  de- 
pend on  the  qualities  and  quantities  of  elements, 
and  laws  of  interaction,  which  date  back  for  their 
adjustment  to  the  beginning  of  the  world.  The 
living  thought,  the  wise  adjustment  were  and  so  are 
present.       The   constructive   agency    began   at   the 


OMNIPRESENCE  121 

centre,  and  to-day  rests  back  on  that  centre.  God 
is  omnipresent  in  full  power,  His  wisdom  was  set 
up  from  everlasting,  from  the  beginning,  or  ever 
the  earth  was. 

The  fact  that  these  relations  of  elements  are  so 
fundamental  as  to  interlock  all  things  and  necessi- 
tate the  entire  series  of  succeeding  services  to  the 
life  of  the  world,  does  not  obscure  the  argument,  it 
simply  compels  us  to  give  due  weight  to  the  omni- 
presence of  God.  It  wrests  from  us  the  conception 
of  a  God  above  nature,  and  forces  upon  us  the  con- 
ception of  God  in  nature.  We  are  to  remember 
that  mere  matter  creates  no  logical  relations ;  ne- 
cessity is  always  and  only  the  product  of  mind.  It 
is  the  mind,  not  the  senses,  that  sees  one  thing  to 
involve  another.  If  an  inner  necessity  pervades  the 
world,  it  must  ultimately  disclose  itself  as  a  logical 
relation,  a  vision  of  mind,  and  so  leads  us  the  more 
directly  to  the  Divine  Reason,  whose  movement  is 
so  free,  yet  so  penetrative  and  grand,  as  to  hold  in 
its  premises  and  principles  many  conclusions.  These 
things  and  facts,  material  simply  to  the  senses,  bear 
with  them  no  inner  relations  of  reason,  no  coherences 
which  are  the  frame-work  of  creation.  Shall  not 
mind  know  mind  when  it  meets  it,  thought  be  cog- 
nizant of  thought  when  it  lies  before  it  in  these  vast 
dimensions?  What  could  have  been  done  which 
has  not  been  done  to  express  reason  in  a  world  like 
this?  The  naturalist,  in  making  answer,  can  only 
fall  back  on  some  proposed  supernaturalism,  which 
in  other  connections  he  so  ridicules. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PROOF    OF    THE  BEING    OF  GOD  FOUND  IN  THE  VEGETABLE 
KINGDOM. 

§  I.  The  argument  for  the  being  of  God  some- 
what alters  its  form  and  force  as  living  things  pass 
under  consideration.  Up  to  this  point  it  stands  in 
this  wise  :  Matter  and  force  can  not  be  assumed  to 
be  eternal,  as  the  very  idea  of  definite  evolution 
cuts  off  that  of  eternity,  and  as  energy  is  suffering 
constant  dissipation.  Nor  do  the  various  kinds  of 
matter,  as  oxygen,  hydrogen,  iron,  silver,  by  their 
mere  existence,  solve  the  whole  problem  of  the  Uni- 
verse, since  the  relation  of  their  properties  to  each 
other  in  constructive  quality,  in  quantity,  in  place 
and  in  time,  are  also  to  be  expounded.  In  explana- 
tion of  this  primitive  idea  of  the  world,  the  being 
of  God  is  brought  forward. 

But  the  Universe  cannot  be  dualistic  in  its  ulti- 
mate analysis.  Matter  cannot  have  independent 
existence.  If  matter  were  to  exist  separately  in  its 
properties,  and  mind  in  its  properties,  there  could  be 
no  such  interpenetration  of  the  two  or  control  of 
one  by  the  other  as  to  explain  the  unity  of  the  uni- 
verse. The  fifth  and  sixth  propositions  of  Spinoza 
serve  at  least  to  indicate  this  difficulty  of  bringing 

122 


MIND    THE    ONE    SUBSTANCE.  1 23 

harmony  to  distinct  forms  of  being.  "  In  the  na- 
ture of  things  there  cannot  be  two  or  more  sub- 
stances of  the  same  nature  or  attributes.  One  sub- 
stance cannot  be  produced  by  another  substance." 

Matter,  then,  must  underlie  mind,  and  mind  be 
one  of  its  subtile  manifestations;  or  mind  must 
underlie  matter,  and  matter  be  simply  its  more  per- 
manent expression.  To  the  degree  in  which  either 
element,  as  matter,  is  independent  of  the  other  ele- 
ment, as  mind,  it  is  uncontrolled  by  it,  and  unex- 
plained by  it.  But  matter  is  from  the  outset  per- 
vaded, united  by  the  combining  forecast  which 
characterizes  mind,  while  the  flexible  powers  of 
mind,  when  they  appear  in  their  distinctive  forms, 
show  no  trace  of  physical  properties.  We  conclude, 
therefore,  that  mind  underlies  matter,  and  in  this 
conclusion  the  relation  of  the  two  elements  in  our 
own  physical  life  confirms  us.  While  the  body 
gives  limitations  and  fixed  conditions  to  the  mind, 
the  mind  still  remains  the  true  constructive  agency, 

But  it  may  be  asked:  Is  it  not  a  setting  aside  of 
the  distinctive  characteristics  of  mind  to  say  that 
matter  is  one  of  its  expressions  ?  Is  not  the  dis- 
tinction of  matter  and  mind  as  completely  lost  by 
reversing  the  method  of  the  materialist,  and  sink- 
ing mental  action  to  the  level  of  material  forces,  as 
by  raising  material  forces  to  the  level  of  mental 
action  ?  These  are  questions  which  must  be  fairly 
met.  It  is  no  sufficient  objection  to  the  conclusion 
that  mind  is  the  ultimate  source  of  matter;  that 
we  cannot  proceed  farther  and  show  how  the  Eter- 
nal Mind  can  be  associated  with  the  physical  forces 


124        PROOF  FOUND  IN    THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 

of  the  world  as  their  abiding  centre.  Much  the 
same  problem  in  a  narrow  form  is  actually  solved  in 
our  own  bodies.  These  bodies  are  permeated  by  a 
rational  life,  and  this  life  retains  many  flexible  forms 
of  action  while  assuming  many  fixed  conditions. 
It  actually  combines  the  fixed  and  the  flexible,  by 
virtue  largely  of  the  rational  union  of  these  two 
elements,  the  physical  and  the  spiritual.  Nor  are 
the  physical  forces  which  enter  into  this  life  foreign 
to  it.  They  may  be  profoundly  affected  by  it.  The 
solidity  and  coherence  of  our  rational  experience 
are  determined  just  here,  and  a  Supreme  Reason, 
looking  toward  a  kindred  expression,  finds  occasion 
for  the  same  elements. 

The  fixedness,  then,  of  physical  facts,  is  not  fatal 
to  their  reference  to  mind.  Mind  does  not  sink  to 
them  by  assuming  them.  It  has  occasion  for  them 
in  its  own  construction,  coherent  from  age  to  age, 
and  made  the  common  ground  of  all  experience. 
Nations  in  their  composite  life  seek  at  once  this 
permanence  in  laws,  customs  and  public  works. 
Mind  has  a  stern  logic  that  is  inflexible,  and  fixed 
methods  that  are  aptly  embodied  for  it  in  physical 
laws. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  limitations  of  matter  are 
absolute  ;  flexibility  and  forecast  can  never  be  cover- 
ed by  it,  can  never  be  expounded  by  it.  If  thought 
is  to  be  regarded  as  the  product  of  physical  evolu- 
tion, it  becomes  a  most  recent  and  narrow  fact,  in 
place  of  that  primitive  and  broad  one  it  seems  to 
be,  and  its  spontaneous,  anticipatory  power  dwindles 
into  an  illusion. 


EVOLUTION.  125 

§  2.  In  considering  the  argument  for  the  being  of 
God  as  affected  by  the  facts  of  the  organic  kingdom, 
ve  are  met  at  once  by  the  doctrine  of  evolution.  By 
evolution  we  understand  the  development  of  each 
successive  stage  of  the  Universe,  and  of  the  World  as 
a  part  of  it,  from  the  previous  one,  without  external 
addition  or  modification.  All  subsequent  stages  are 
potentially  held  in  each  stage,  and  so  the  whole  is 
in  any  stage  we  choose  to  select.  The  Universe  is 
every  moment  complete  in  itself. 

Many  think  that  this  doctrine  is  not  destructive 
to  the  argument  for  the  being  of  God.  "  It  is  no- 
torious and  patent  to  all  who  choose  to  seek,  that 
many  distinguished  Christian  thinkers  have  accept- 
ed and  do  accept  both  ideas,  i.e.,  both  '  creation  ' 
and  '  evolution.'  "  * 

Others,  with  equally  deep  conviction,  and,  as  it 
seems  to  us,  with  more  penetration,  regard  evolution 
as  an  idea  logically  in  conflict  with  that  of  divine 
control.  (1)  If  evolution  is  a  fact,  we  have  only  to 
supplement  it  by  one  other  supposition,  the  eternity 
of  matter  and  force,  and  all  occasion  and  all  oppor- 
tunity for  a  divine  constructive  work  at  once  disap- 
pear. Our  entire  argument  is  thus  made  to  turn  on 
a  proof  of  a  beginning  in  the  physical  world,  since 
that  world,  once  in  existence,  is,  under  the  doctrine 
of  evolution,  sufficient  for  all  subsequent  results. 
Evolution  sweeps  the  Universe  of  intervention  and 
throws  us  back  on  creation  only. 

Nor  can  we  regain  the  ground  lost  by  an  asser- 
tion of  the  sustaining  power  of  God.  The  notion 
of  support  in  connection  with  evolution  can  be  no 

*  Genesis  of  Species,  p.  29. 


126        PROOF  FOUND  IN  THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 

more  than  a  vague,  verbal  proposition.  If  we  at- 
tempt to  define  it,  and  fix  its  degree,  we  shall,  to 
the  full  extent  of  the  meaning  we  give  it,  take  back 
the  concession  already  made  to  the  doctrine  of  evo- 
lution. But  evolution  is  one  of  those  notions  that 
owes  its  force  to  its  completeness.  If  we  limit  it  in 
the  least  its  intellectual  fascination  is  gone,  the 
frame-work  of  a  universe  disappears.  Support  im- 
plies weakness,  that  the  physical  world  is  not  that 
integral  thing  we  have  taken  it  to  be.  But  if  mind 
makes  an  inroad  of  any  sort  upon  matter,  we  can- 
not again  restore  its  completeness,  and  evolution  is 
lost. 

What  have  we  done  then  by  accepting  evolution? 
We  have  staked  everything  on  the  proof  of  creation, 
and  at  the  same  time  crippled  that  proof  by  grant- 
ing that  all  the  present  wisdom  of  the  world,  its  life 
and  its  beauty,  are  in  the  first  instance  and  for  an 
exceedingly  long  period  referable  to  matter.  We 
are  by  this  concession  put  on  a  practical  footing  with 
nature  alone.  The  action  of  God  is  limited  to  a  sin- 
gle effort,  aeons  since,  and  we,  so  deeply  immersed 
in  the  unchangeable  laws  of  the  world,  have  no  occa- 
sion to  look  beyond  them.  We  have  no  more  inter- 
est in  the  divine  life  than  in  the  atmosphere  of  the 
planet  Jupiter.  The  government  of  God  has  sunk 
into  the  laws  of  nature,  and  his  being  is  simply  a 
notion  evoked  for  an  intellectual  service  discharged 
in  the  remote  and  by-gone  epoch  of  creation. 

The  inherent  repulsion  of  the  two  ideas,  evolution 
and  creation,  is  too  strong,  we  shall  not  retain  them 
both.    We  shall  not  collect  the  Divine  Presence  out 


EVOLUTION.  127 

of  the  Universe  and  confine  it  to  a  brief  moment 
without  soon  losing  it  altogether.  What  we  have 
saved  is  not  worth  a  struggle.  If  God  has  but  one 
instant  of  action,  it  is  not  easy  to  believe  he  has 
any ;  and,  as  that  instant  has  so  long  since  passed, 
its  reality  is  purely  a  theoretical  point.  But  the 
omnipresence  of  God  cannot  be  dealt  with  in  this 
way.  We  shall  lose  our  theism  equally  whether  we 
identify  nature  with  God,  or  allow  nature  to  exclude 
God  as  a  pervasive  presence. 

(2)  But  if  the  doctrine  of  evolution  is  true,  that 
doctrine  includes  man,  and  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  nature  of  man  is  thus  ultimately  referable 
to  the  physical  world.  If  this  be  granted,  then  cer- 
tainly we  have  no  argument  left  for  the  being  of 
God,  since  the  highest  known  products  of  thought 
are  physical  in  their  origin.  It  is  simply  an  illusion 
thereafter  to  put  mind  before  matter,  for  the  Uni- 
verse has  put  matter  before  mind.  An  eddy  in  the 
river  can  not  reverse  the  river  itself.  The  question 
of  a  beginning  may  still  bring  us  perplexity,  but 
can  bring  no  justification  to  an  effort  to  turn  the 
order  of  the  world  end  for  end,  and  make  conscious 
intelligence,  which  is  the  latest  product  of  evolution, 
its  antecedent  germ. 

(3)  Moreover,  the  inconceivability  of  the  doctrine 
of  evolution  is  such,  the  degree  in  which  it  tran- 
scends all  the  terms  of  our  experience  is  so  great, 
that  if  we  once  accept  it,  the  ordinary  interpretations 
of  our  experience  become  unsound.  If  we  can  be- 
lieve that  the  forces  which  now  express  themselves 
in  human  life  and  human  history  were  in  some  semi- 


128        PROOF  FOUND  IN  THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 

nal  form  included  in  the  nebulous  matter  of  the 
solar  system,  we  shall  find  no  sufficient  premises  in 
any  facts  in  the  world  about  us  for  an  inference  of 
the  existence  of  a  Divine  Being.  The  need  of  mind 
to  expound  anything  is  too  much  reduced  by  evolu- 
tion to  be  successfully  revived  in  so  bold  a  service. 
If  our  own  plans  are  to  be  referred  to  physical 
forces  of  a  million  years  standing,  intellectual  pro- 
ducts of  all  kinds  must  wither,  like  flowers,  when 
plucked  from  these  latest  uplands  of  the  material 
world. 

There  is  a  kind  of  inconceivability  which  once  ad- 
mitted benumbs  the  mind  in  all  its  familiar  experi- 
ence, and  such  an  inconceivability  is  that  involved 
in  supposing  the  mechanical,  thermal,  chemical, 
electrical  forces  of  the  world  to  hold  latent  in  them 
for  an  unmeasured  period  its  intellectual  and  moral 
powers.  The  doctrine,  therefore,  of  evolution  must 
be  in  some  way  modified  or  displaced  before  an  ar- 
gument for  the  being  of  God  can  gain  any  firm 
footing. 

Evolution  finds  easy  admission  to  the  minds  of 
most  till  we  reach  the  organic  world.  The  reasons 
for  its  extension  over  this  new  and  much  more  dif- 
ficult field  are  briefly  these :  (i)  Many  close  lines 
of  relation  run  through  the  vegetable  kingdom  and 
the  animal  kingdom.  They  constitute  the  chief 
significancy  of  the  facts  involved,  and  are  the  ground 
of  their  classification.  The  scientific  mind  can  not 
for  an  instant  overlook  them  or  easily  deny  to 
them  that  causal  connection  which  they  so  dis- 
tinctly indicate.       Special   creation,   which   divides 


EVOLUTION.  I2Q 

into  disconnected  links  these  chains  of  succession, 
seems  plainly  to  contradict  the  obvious  force  of  the 
facts,  indeed,  to  set  aside  the  entire  method  of  rea- 
soning which  science  applies  to  the  external  world. 
(2)  This  argument,  so  conclusive  and  pervasive, 
is  strikingly  confirmed  by  what  are  known  as  rudi- 
mentary structures.  These  are  found  in  many  ani- 
mals and  in  man.  Certain  parts,  as  foetal  teeth  in 
whales  and  the  vermiform  appendage  in  man,  sub- 
serve no  purpose  in  the  life  of  the  animal  to  which 
they  belong  in  this  undeveloped  form,  while  in 
some  animals  they  have  a  perfect  form  and  an 
important  function.  (3)  An  allied  argument,  but 
one  much  more  obscure,  is  a  general  likeness 
in  embryonic  development  between  very  remote 
species.  The  earlier  stages  of  life  pass  through 
much  the  same  forms,  while  specific  differences  are 
taken  on  later.  (4)  The  facts  of  distribution  of 
life  on  the  Earth  indicates  organic  connections  be- 
tween allied  species.  Related  forms  of  life  occupy 
any  given  region  according  to  the  opportunities 
offered  by  continuity  in  time  and  contiguity  in 
place. 

If  these  great  facts  of  life  are  overlooked  and  a 
special  providence  substituted  for  the  causal  rela-' 
tions  indicated  by  them,  darkness  at  once  settles 
down  on  the  whole  subject,  the  lines  of  thought 
disappear.  A  large  share  of  what  is  known  in 
botany  and  zoology  has  been  disclosed  under  the 
guiding  ideas  which  have  led  to  the  theory  of  evo- 
lution. These  very  broad  facts  plainly  call  for  some 
form  of  this  theory ;  that  they  demand   strict  evo- 


I30        PROOF  FOUND  IN   THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 

lution,    or    that    evolution    expounds  all  the  facts 
under  consideration  is  not  so  plain. 

§  3.  The  forces  and  laws  relied  on  in  complete 
organic  evolution  have  been  briefly  summarized 
and  clearly  stated  in  the  Cosmic  Philosophy. 

'  ,  (  Direct      .     .     .     Adaptation. 

External.     .   i  T    ..  __  .  _,  , 

(  Indirect    .     Natural  Selection. 


"  Equilibration 


Direct      ....    Heredity. 
Internal  .     .   •{  (  Correlation. 

(  Use  and  Disuse."* 


These  five  laws — adaptation,  natural  selection, 
heredity,  correlation,  use  and  disuse — are  offered  as 
including  the  efficient  forces  by  which  the  organic 
world  passes  from  its  simplest  to  its  most  complex 
forms.  We  ask,  concerning  them :  How  far  are 
they  sufficient  to  explain  the  transformation  in- 
volved ?  and,  How  far  are  they  new  laws  not  involved 
in  matter  and  motion  which  preceded  them  ?  Un- 
der evolution  they  should  be  able  to  fully  expound 
the  complicated  phenomena  of  life,  and  themselves 
be  included  in  the  forces  which  went  before  them. 
This  entire  transformation  is  covered  by  the  word 
equilibration. 

We  should  observe  that  the  word  equilibration  is 
used  in  a  peculiar  sense.  It  does  not  mean,  as  ordi- 
narily, a  passage  from  a  less  stable  condition  to  a  more 
stable  one,  as  when  iron  cools  or  an  organic  compound 
is  decomposed  ;  but  quite  the  reverse  of  this,  the  ex- 
tended establishment  and  maintenance  of  the  most 
delicate  yet  stable  organic  equilibrium.  The  word 
ceases,  then,  to  carry  with  it  any  presumptive  force. 

♦Vol.  ii,  p.  65. 


EQUILIBRATION.  I  31 

We  have,  previous  to  the  appearance  of  life,  only 
mechanical,  chemical,  thermal,  electrical  energies  to 
be  equilibrated,  and  the  fact  that  this  equilibration 
has  been  taking  place  for  incalculable  ages — long 
enough  for  the  most  exacting  induction — on  a  plane 
quite  other  and  lower  than  that  of  the  organic  world. 
We  have  not  the  least  suggestion  of  any  equilibration 
among  purely  physical  forces  that  at  all  corresponds 
to  life.  When,  therefore,  that  peculiar  combination 
known  as  a  living  organism,  and  that  plastic  power 
known  as  life,  are,  in  the  outset,  assumed  under  the 
term  equilibration,  we  have  a  foreshadowing  of  the 
kind  of  steps  that  are  to  be  taken.  Observe  the 
magnitude  of  the  assumption.  A  power  or  powers 
of  some  sort,  so  restless,  so  varied,  so  antagonistic, 
that  two  great  kingdoms  are  to  be  built  up  out  of 
their  persistent  and  changeable  efforts  at  equilibra- 
tion with  a  comparatively  fixed,  physical  environ- 
ment are  obscurely  taken  in  by  a  mere  word  as  the 
foundation  of  this  immense  superstructure.  Surely 
one-half  of  the  ground  is  assumed  in  the  first  term 
by  which  the  theory  gets  expression.  Equilibration 
implies  extended,  subtle,  changeable  tendencies, 
matching  themselves  at  many  points  with  the  phy- 
sical forces  about  them,  and  so  building  up  in  deli- 
cate yet  ephemeral  adjustments  ten  thousand  won- 
derful products.  How  few  words  it  takes  to  indi- 
cate and  to  give  a  scientific  gloss  to  this  magnifi- 
cent series  of  facts,  without  in  the  least  explaining  it ! 

The  birth  of  time  is  here  indicated  by  the  one 
word  equilibration.  Physical  forces  had  been  equil- 
ibrated for   countless  aeons  without  life,  and  when 


I32         PROOF  FOUND  IN  THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 

life  appears,  the  transition  is  slurred  over  with  a 
word. 

By  adaptation  is  meant  the  direct  action  of  physi- 
cal forces  on  forms  of  life,  fitting  them  to  their  cir- 
cumstances. The  adjustment  is  not  found  in  any 
peculiar  property  of  the  living  thing,  but  in  a  simple 
response  to  external  conditions.  There  was  a  time 
when  much  was  made  of  this  consideration.  That 
time  has  passed  by,  and  left  a  very  small  remainder 
of  knowledge.  There  can  hardly  be  given,  in  either 
organic  kingdom,  a  significant  fact  of  adaptation,  an 
organic  change  directly  due  to  external  forces.  A 
tree  that  grows  in  the  current  of  a  strong  wind 
shows  by  its  contour  the  action  to  which  it  has  been 
subjected.  The  particular  structure  has  been  modi- 
fied by  the  special  circumstances,  but  no  organic 
tendency  has  been  touched ;  these  tendencies  re- 
main exactly  what  they  were. 

A  tree  that  grows  in  such  a  current  also  shows  an 
elliptic  form  in  a  section  of  the  trunk.  This  has 
been  attributed  to  the  increased  circulation  occa- 
sioned in  opposite  faces  of  the  bowl,  alternately 
extended  and  contracted  by  the  swaying  of  the  top. 
It  is  not  plain,  however,  that  a  forced  circulation  of 
this  sort,  as  a  merely  physical  fact,  would  not  prove 
destructive  rather  than  constructive.  Nor  will  this 
increased  growth  be  found  to  correspond  to  the 
motion  involved,  but  rather  to  the  exigency  of  the 
case.  The  elm  supports  its  trunk  with  strong  but- 
tresses in  arrest  of  motion  rather  than  as  the  result 
of  motion.  The  wounded  tree  increases  its  growth 
on  either  side  of  the  injury  to  cover  it  more  quickly, 


NATURAL    SELECTION.  I  33 

and  to  restore  the  balance  of  strength.  The  branch 
at  its  juncture  with  the  tree  departs  from  its  usual 
symmetry  of  construction  about  a  centre,  and  be- 
comes eccentric,  in  order  to  frame  a  stronger  joint. 
Some  trees,  as  tamaracks  and  balsams,  surround 
their  branches  as  they  increase  in  size  with  rings  of 
growth  on  the  body  of  the  tree,  like  washers,  to 
strengthen  the  union.  Adaptation,  then,  which  dis- 
closes the  direct  results  of  physical  forces  in  or- 
ganic products,  and  is,  therefore,  in  the  line  of 
evolution,  may  be  passed,  as  offering  explanations 
of  no  magnitude  or  interest  in  this  connection. 

The  second  agency  is  natural  selection.  This  is 
greatly  relied  on  in  expounding  life,  and  is,  doubt- 
less, a  consideration  of  first  importance.  But  how- 
ever many  secondary  facts  in  the  organic  kingdoms 
may  be  understood  by  means  of  natural  selection, 
certain  it  is  that  natural  selection  is  not  a  law  of 
sufficient  scope  to  do  any  considerable  portion  of  the 
work  that  now  falls  to  it  under  evolution.  Natural 
selection  assumes  a. tendency  in  all  living  things  to 
slight  variations  in  all  directions,  and  then  explains 
the  systematic  results  that  life  presents  by  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest.  On  this  tendency  of  organic 
things  to  vary  it  casts  no  light,  but  assumes  it  as  an 
obvious  fact,  and  one  presenting  no  great  difficulty. 
It  was  to  be  expected  that  changing  circumstances 
should  produce  changeable  results  expressed  in 
variation.  It  can  go  no  farther  than  this  and  give 
a  reason  why  these  variations  should  be  in  one 
direction  rather  than  another,  be  in  the  interests 
of  life  rather  than   adverse  to  those  interests.     It 


134       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE  VEGETABLE    KINGDOM. 

has  at  hand  no  causes  for  one  result  in  varia- 
tion rather  than  another.  Physical  forces  hold 
fast  to  their  quality  through  all  vicissitudes,  but  cir- 
cumstances are  allowed,  in  a  fortuitous  way,  to  im- 
press themselves  permanently  on  organic  forces ; 
physical  forces,  in  their  external  action,  may  be  re- 
garded as  militant  with  organic  forces,  yet  they  are 
made  the  occasion  on  which  the  organic  tendencies 
gain  a  new  mastery ;  the  organic  tendencies  cover 
the  secrets  of  the  problem,  but  these  are  assumed, 
and  assumed  as  open  to  the  favorable  impact  of  ex- 
ternal forces. 

Says  Mr.  Wallace  in  the  Nineteenth  Century, 
"  Variation  is  the  mere  absence  of  identity  and  calls 
for  no  farther  explanation."  This  statement  does 
not  quite  cover  the  case  as  involved  in  a  theistic 
argument.  If  physical  forces  modify  each  other  on 
their  own  plane,  we  have  no  new  term.  If,  how- 
ever, they  affect  each  other  in  some  peculiar  way, 
the  case  is  correspondingly  altered.  Sand  is  scat- 
tered on  a  metallic  disk,  the  disk  is  thrown  into 
musical  vibration.  The  simple  dancing  of  the  sand 
calls  for  no  explanation,  but  the  curves  in  which  it 
finally  gathers  do  call  for  a  special  reason.  That 
vital  forms  are  modified  by  physical  forces,  as  when 
a  tree  is  injured  by  violence,  or  straightened  by 
being  bound  to  a  pole,  is  a  fact  sufficiently  obvious  ; 
but  when,  under  new  conditions,  the  plastic  power 
assumes  new  and  apt  forms,  Ave  must  either  give  a 
distinct  reason  for  this  fact  found  in  the  new  cir- 
cumstances, or  we  must  add  to  the  mystery  of  the 
plastic  power  the  further  mystery  of  suitable  varia- 


NATURAL    SELECTION.  135 

tion.  Adding  this  power  to  the  plastic  power  of 
life,  we  have  by  so  much  increased  the  creative 
thought  which  this  expresses.  When  this  variation 
takes  place  in  certain  individuals  of  a  species  in  a 
given  direction,  and  when  these  directions  are  main- 
tained by  a  long  series  of  profitable  changes,  we 
have  added  immensely  to  the  significance  of  those 
vital  powers  whose  chief  laws  are  those  of  variation 
and  inheritance. 

The  great  fact  of  order  as  the  final  result  is  not 
to  be  hidden  by  the  fact  that  many  obscure  forces 
take  part  in  it.  It  is  something  quite  beyond  purely 
physical  forces,  and  when  we  assume  vital  forces 
and  vital  laws,  we  wrap  therein  these  grand  issues. 
Indeed,  the  concurrence  of  so  many  things,  the  cor- 
relation of  powers  and  conditions,  and  their  constant 
reactions  only  show  the  world  to  be  wonderfully 
organic  by  new  increments  of  power.  If  Grant 
Allen  is  partially  correct — and  if  he  is  not  correct  it 
is  quite  possible  that  some  other  like  reciprocity  of 
action  will  be  discovered — in  asserting  the  mutual 
dependence  of  bright  hues  in  flowers  and  the  color- 
sense  in  insects,  and  the  growth  of  the  two  together 
in  colors  both  in  blossom  and  butterfly ;  and  also  the 
connection  in  a  like  way  of  the  strong  colors  in 
fruits  and  the  brilliant  plumage  of  birds,  the  color- 
sense  being  first  developed  and  then  applied  in 
sexual  selection,  we  only  see  the  increased  force 
of  primitive,  concurrent  powers,  not  their  displace- 
ment. 

The  powers  themselves  are  not  thereby  explained, 
they  are  only  disclosed.     In  a  theistic  argument,  it 


I36      PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    VEGETABLE    KINGDOM. 

is  always  possible  to  mine  one  stage  deeper,  so  long 
as  occult  causes  are  evoked  in  the  constructive  work. 
The  thought  and  energy  of  God  are  not  banished ; 
the  method  of  application  merely  is  made  more 
fundamental,  and  so  more  truly  omniscient. 

There  can  no  longer  be  any  doubt  that  natural 
selection  does  expound  many  of  the  changes  that 
have  taken  place  among  living  things,  more  espe- 
cially the  inroads  of  one  form  of  life  upon  another, 
and  the  disappearance  of  species.  It  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that  natural  selection,  after  the  un- 
explained data  with  which  it  starts, — the  germ  of  the 
seed — is  a  law  directly  in  harmony  with  evolution. 
It  explains  the  results  which  it  covers  by  the  neces- 
sary action  of  the  external  conditions  under  which 
they  arise.  It  is,  therefore,  necessary  to  see  how 
far  it  can  discharge  the  labor  laid  upon  it.  It  seems 
to  us  that  only  the  merest  fraction  of  the  facts  of 
the  organic  world  can  thus  be  accounted  for,  and 
those  chiefly  of  obliteration  rather  than  of  construc- 
tion. 

(1)  Natural  selection  does  not  explain  how  spe- 
cies, genera,  families,  orders,  classes  present  them- 
selves in  all  places  and  at  all  times  in  their  syste- 
matic relations.  Slight  movement  in  all  directions 
would  not  lead  to  this  result,  nor  is  it  plain  that  na- 
tural selection  alone,  acting  on  the  confused  pro- 
ducts of  fortuitous  change,  would  issue  in  this 
comparative  order.  This  supposition  implies  that 
the  practical  exigencies  involve  the  same  relations, 
the  same  species  and  the  same  genera  which  are 
contained  in  a  scientific  classification.     The  parallel- 


NATURAL    SELECTION.  137 

ism  of  these  two  disconnected  principles  of  relation, 
to  wit,  vigor  of  life  and  coherence  in  a  system,  is 
not  apparent,  and  cannot  be  conceded  without  a 
sufficient  reason.  So  far,  therefore,  as  the  organic 
kingdoms  do  offer  in  their  classification  coherent 
results,  these  results  are  unexplained  by  evolution, 
as  they  have  arisen  under  a  selection  that  has  had 
no  reference  to  them.  Varieties  might  have  appear- 
ed confusedly  in  a  thousand  directions,  and  so  con- 
fusedly that  no  linear  relations  would  give  them 
their  present  order.  The  method  imposing  the  re- 
lations is  not  a  scientific  one,  while  the  relations 
themselves  disclose  the  framework  of  a  scientific 
system. 

(2)  Nor  can  natural  selection  be  relied  on  to  do  its 
work  with  sufficient  decision  and  rapidity  to  turn  into 
order  the  confused  agencies  acting  under  it.  If  we 
were  to  take  even  ten  forms  of  life  in  the  animal  king- 
dom, and  suppose  these  capable  of  indefinite  varia- 
tions under  changing  circumstances,  without  limit 
either  in  direction  or  in  time,  and  that  each  result- 
ant form  carried  with  it  the  same  liability,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  natural  selection  must  act  with  the 
promptness  of  a  person  to  prevent  immediate  con- 
fusion. Image  one  of  these  ten  forms  as  a  centre 
from  which  radii  pass  out  in  all  directions,  indicat- 
ing its  possible  lines  of  variation.  Successive  forms 
may  take  up  at  random  these  radii,  and  each  form 
in  each  radius  may  become  a  second  centre  with 
its  radii,  and  each  form  in  each  of  these  a  third  cen- 
tre with  third  radii.  Innumerable  and  inextricable 
relations  would  immediately  follow,  unless,  without 


I38       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    VEGETABLE    KINGDOM. 

reason  rendered,  we  either  define  the  lines  of  varia- 
tion and  check  its  rapidity,  or  we  give  an  unwarrant- 
able decision  to  natural  selection.  This  rapidity  of 
action  natural  selection  does  not  manifest,  but  quite 
the  reverse.  The  majority  of  slight  variations  would 
be  relatively  indifferent  in  the  struggle  for  life,  and 
those  more  significant  would  frequently  require 
much  time  to  establish  themselves.  Indeed,  till  wc 
take  in  the  truly  organic  law  of  heredity,  there  are 
present  no  means  of  holding  any  ground  that  may 
be  gained  anywhere  in  evolution. 

Natural  selection  fails  also  to  give  due  weight  to 
some  important  considerations.  A  very  influential 
element  in  a  calculation  of  the  chances  of  survival 
is  that  of  the  relative  number  of  the  varieties  com- 
peting for  existence.  A  species  of  inferior  powers 
may  prevail  through  superior  numbers.*  Natural 
selection,  by  its  tardy  and  hesitating  move- 
ment, would  be  a  hopeless  constructive  agent  in 
the  many  exigencies  which  the  theory  itself  in- 
volves of  constant  and  constantly  modified  changes 
with  undefined  directions  and  undefined  rapidity. 

(3)  Moreover,  neither  the  present  life  on  the 
globe  nor  the  record  of  previous  life  offers  those 
innumerable  shades  of  relation  which  the  theory 
implies.  Species  are  better  defined  than  natural 
selection  would  lead  us  to  expect,  while  neither 
the  vegetable  nor  the  animal  kingdom  presents 
sufficient  remains  of  the  abortive,  semi-abortive 
and  wholly  successful  forms  which  must  have 
filled  all  open  spaces  to  repletion.  We  have  no 
traces  of  the  great  multitude  which  the  throng 
*  Genesis  of  Species,  p.  69. 


NATURAL    SELECTION.  I  39 

and  the  tumult  are  alleged  to  have  trampled  out. 
The  insufficiency  of  the  geological  record  softens 
but  does  not  remove  the  objection;  (i)  because 
present  life — a  safe  type  of  all  life — involves  the 
same  objection  ;  (2)  and  because  the  record  is  more 
complete  by  far  in  its  rational  force  than  the  rela- 
tive number  in  its  facts  implies,  since  these  facts, 
offered  at  random  through  the  whole  field,  may 
fairly  present  it  in  its  characteristic  features.  Our 
knowledge  of  Roman  life  is  not  measured  by  the 
ratio  which  the  facts  known  by  us  bear  to  those 
unknown. 

(4)  Nor  has  natural  selection  that  indefinite  time 
which  has  been  assumed  wherein  to  work  its 
changes.  Physics,  basing  its  proofs  on  three  prem- 
ises, the  internal  heat  of  the  earth,  tidal  retardation 
and  the  sun's  temperature  comes  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  period  during  which  life  has  been  present 
in  the  world  cannot  much  exceed  ten  millions  of 
years. *  This  is,  then,  proximately  the  time  within 
which  the  shaping  of  the  organic  world  must  have 
been  accomplished. 

(5)  The  slightness  also  of  the  changes  on  which 
the  theory  of  natural  selection  is  made  to  rest  in 
evolution  is  a  grave  embarrassment.  Changes  so 
slight,  though  lying  in  the  right  direction,  would 
oftentimes  have  no  sufficient  potency.  The  bal- 
ance of  forces  is  not  so  nice,  nor  their  condition  so 
unstable  as  this  prevalence  of  a  slight  advantage 
implies,  and  the  more  so  as  the  advantage  itself 
may  have  compensations  and  offsets.  Moreover, 
slight   changes,  as  parts  of  a  complex  whole,  may 

♦Recent  Advances  in  Physical  Science,  p.  165. 


I40   PROOF  FOUND  IN  THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 

afford  no  immediate  gain.  This  would  be  a  very 
common  case.  Organs  and  functions  are  frequently 
so  complicated,  so  involved  with  each  other,  that 
they  cannot  be  analyzed  into  parts,  or  cut  up  into 
grades,  each  separately  advantageous.  Mr.  Dar- 
win, in  his  work  on  the  Fertilization  of  Orchids, 
has  given  many  of  the  curious  ways  by  which  this 
family  of  plants  is  fertilized  through  the  interven- 
tion of  insects.  In  his  Origin  of  Species  he  brings 
forward  this  example:  "This  orchid — the  Coryan- 
thes — has  part  of  its  labellum  or  lower  lip  hollowed 
out  into  a  great  bucket,  into  which  drops  of  almost 
pure  water  continually  fall  from  two  secreting  horns 
which  stand  above  it  ;  and  when  the  bucket  is  half 
full  the  water  overflows  by  a  spout  in  one  side. 
The  basal  part  of  the  labellum  stands  over  the 
bucket,  and  is  itself  hollowed  out  into  a  sort  of 
chamber  with  two  lateral  entrances ;  within  this 
chamber  there  are  curious  fleshy  ridges.  The 
most  ingenious  man,  if  he  had  not  witnessed  what 
takes  place,  could  never  have  imagined  what  pur- 
pose all  these  parts  serve.  But  Dr.  Criiger  saw 
crowds  of  large  bumble-bees  visiting  the  gigantic 
flowers  of  this  orchid,  not  in  order  to  suck  water, 
but  to  gnaw  off  the  ridges  within  the  chamber 
above  the  bucket ;  in  doing  this  they  frequently 
pushed  each  other  into  the  bucket,  and  their  wings 
being  thus  wetted  they  could  not  fly  away,  but  were 
compelled  to  crawl  out  through  the  passage  formed 
by  the  spout  or  overflow.  The  passage  is  narrow 
and  is  roofed  over  by  the  column,  so  that  the  bee 
in  forcing  its  way  out,  first  rubs  its  back  against  the 


NATURAL    SELECTION.  I4I 

viscid  stigma  and  then  against  the  viscid  glands  of 
the  pollen-masses.  The  pollen-masses  are  thus 
glued  to  the  back  of  the  bee  which  first  happens  to 
crawl  out  through  the  passage  of  a  lately  expanded 
flower,  and  are  thus  carried  away.  When  tne  bee 
so  provided  flies  to  another  flower,  or  to  the  same 
flower  a  second  time,  and  is  pushed  by  its  com- 
rades into  the  bucket  and  then  crawls  out  by  the 
passage,  the  pollen-mass  necessarily  comes  first  in 
contact  with  the  viscid  stigma  and  adheres  to  it; 
and  the  flower  is  fertilized."* 

In  this  example,  and  in  kindred  ones  scarcely  less 
curious,  the  success  of  the  whole  construction  de- 
pends on  the  completeness  of  the  several  portions. 
Any  deficiency  would  be  fatal.  A  trap  cannot  be 
replaced  by  one  or  two  of  its  parts. 

Imitation  among  insects  is  offered  as  an  especially 
apt  illustration  of  natural  selection.  It  is  open, 
however,  to  difficulties  of  this  same  character.  The 
safety  of  an  insect  is  secured  by  a  resemblance  to  a 
twig,  a  leaf,  or  to  noxious  species.  Such  a  resem- 
blance would  afford  no  protection  till  it  was  fairly 
well  established.  The  first  steps  toward  it  would 
be  inefficacious.  The  chances  also  of  reaching  a 
bizarre  form  by  a  series  of  slight  changes  under  for- 
tuitous causes  are  infinitely  small.  It  is  found, 
moreover,  that  this  resemblance  extends  at  times  to 
minute  details,  and  is  much  more  complete  than  the 
end  of  protection  would  require.  Similar  relations 
exist  between  plants  and  insects,  as  in  the  orchids, 
where  they  serve  apparently  no  purpose  in  the  econ- 
omy of  the  plant.     When,  therefore,  natural  selec- 

*  Origin  of  Species,  p.    155. 


I42       PROOF    FOUND    IN   THE    VEGETABLE    KINGDOM. 

tion  is  offered  as  a  leading  principle  in  evolution,  it 
cannot  be  properly  allowed  to  gather  a  few  illustra- 
tions here  and  there,  while  it  leaves  a  large  amount 
of  facts  of  the  same  nature  in  the  same  fields  unex- 
plained. 

A  protective  variation  may  in  many  instances 
be  so  simple,  as,  taken  by  itself,  to  indicate  no 
peculiar  tendency  ;  but  often  this  will  not  be 
true.  When  Grant  Allen  attributes  great  results 
to  the  reactions  of  colors  in  flowers  and  fruits 
and  the  color-sense  in  insects  and  birds,  we  have  a 
remarkable  concurrence  of  powers,  as  well  as  each 
power,  to  account  for — the  first  hues  of  flowers,  the 
rudimentary  perceptive  power,  the  honey  in  the 
flower,  the  gains  of  cross-fertilization.  Now,  no  law 
of  chances  will  allow  us  to  overlook  this  remarkable 
combination  of  tendencies. 

(6)  Changes  often  involve  reciprocal  modifica- 
tions between  different  functions  in  the  same  indi- 
vidual ;  between  different  individuals,  as  parent  and 
offspring,  male  and  female  ;  and  between  functions 
and  external  conditions.  Natural  selection  can  give 
no  sufficient  reasons  to  explain  the  concurrence  of 
these  reciprocal  changes  in  time.  An  example  of 
this  character  is  the  injection  of  milk  by  the  kan- 
garoo into  the  mouth  of  its  young.  The  offspring 
is  unable,  from  imperfect  development,  to  suck. 
The  parent  is  therefore  endowed  with  this  peculiar 
power,  while  the  young  are  guarded  from  strangu- 
lation by  the  extension  of  the  larynx  into  the  nasal 
passages.* 

(7)  Akin   to  this  objection  is  the  objection  that 

*  Genesis  of  Species,  p.  55. 


NATURAL    SELECTION.  I43 

very  remote  parts  of  the  vegetable  and  of  the  ani- 
mal kingdom,  parts  so  remote  as  to  have  branched 
very  far  back  in  development,  yet  present  in  some 
special  organs  striking  resemblances  to  each  other. 
Thus,  that  an  ash-leaf  maple  should  be  found  among 
maples,  or  a  chestnut-leaf  oak  among  oaks,  is  a  re- 
sult hardly  to  be  anticipated.  The  gillaroo  trout, 
the  mullet  and  the  toothless  ant-eater  have  gizzards, 
an  organ  which  lies  primarily  in  the  line  of  develop- 
ment of  birds. *  The  eyes  of  insects  and  of  crabs 
offer  the  same  principles ;  so  also  the  ears,  and  more 
manifestly  the  eyes  of  cuttle-fish,  and  those  of  ver- 
tebrates show  a  general  correspondence.  Yet  it  is 
quite  beyond  the  range  of  chances  to  explain  any 
considerable  agreement  between  results  so  remote 
from  each  other  in  lines  of  causation.  If  we  trace 
back  these  lines  to  the  point'  of  convergence,  we 
shall  find  a  common  parent  quite  unlike  either  off- 
spring. This  disagreement  between  the  two  ex- 
tremes has  been  the  result  of  the  protracted  vicissi- 
tudes of  entirely  diverse  developments,  and  reveals 
itself  at  length  in  two  such  different  beings  as  a 
cuttle-fish  and  a  man.  Yet  the  eye,  in  its  forms 
of  structure,  offers  a  remarkable  exception  to  this 
divergence,  and  one  not  to  be  explained  by 
natural  selection  merely.  Nor  can  it  be  fairly 
said  that  the  range  of  chances  is  narrow  in  the  eye 
through  the  fixedness  of  optic  principles.  The  ulti- 
mate physical  result  in  vision  is  a  molecular  change 
in  the  brain  induced  by  light.  We  are  certainly 
not  prepared   to  say  that  such  a  change  can  be  in- 

*  Dissertations  of  Sir  Charles  Bell.      Paley's   N.   Theology,   vol. 
iv,  p.  84. 


144      PROOF    FOUND    IN  THE    VEGETAELE    KINGDOM. 

duced  in  only  two  or  three  ways  ;  nor  to  show  how 
these  ways  have  been  hit  on  repeatedly  in  the 
animal  kingdom. 

The  next  law  offered  in  equilibration  is  that  of 
inheritance.  This  is  to  be  accepted  at  once  as  a 
primary  principle  in  the  development  of  life.  It 
does  not,  however,  belong  to  evolution.  Evolution 
has  no  light  to  bring  to  this  law,  nor  is  it  a  law 
identical  with  any  previously  existing  physical 
laws  nor  in  any  way  derivable  from  them.  It  is  an 
inscrutable  term  which  first  makes  its  appearance 
among  organic  powers,  and  is  part  of  that  endow- 
ment which  belongs  to  them  as  a  distinct  incre- 
ment. 

The  same  is  true  of  correlation.  A  change  in  one 
portion  of  an  organic  being  does  carry  with  it  cor- 
relative changes  in  other  portions  If  the  neck  is 
lengthened,  as  in  a  giraffe,  or  the  horns  strengthened, 
as  in  an  elk,  the  shoulders,  the  muscles,  the  legs, 
the  lungs,  the  circulation  must  be  modified  to  meet 
the  changed  conditions.  But  why?  Simply  be- 
cause the  constructive  idea  demands  it.  An  altera- 
tion in  one  part  of  an  engine  does  not  carry  with  it 
as  a  mechanical  fact  the  alterations  of  other  parts. 
These  follow  only  as  mind  supervenes  and  com- 
pletes its  changes  under  a  well-ordered  purpose. 
The  law  of  correlation  is  one  of  the  organic  world, 
but  it  is  not  included  in  mere  matter  and  motion, 
and  does  disclose  the  coherence  of  design. 

The  last  law  is  that  of  use  and  disuse.  Here 
again  evolution  enunciates  the  law  without  being 
able  to  claim  it  as  its  own.     A  glove  is  not   thick- 


EVOLUTION.  145 

ened  by  use,  the  skin  of  the  hand  is  thickened.  A 
pipe  is  not  strengthened  by  drawing  water  through 
it,  muscles  are  strengthened  by  the  increased  circula- 
tion that  goes  with  labor.  The  engine  does  not  ab- 
sorb a  wheel  that  has  dropped  out  of  the  circuit, 
the  living  organism  by  atrophy  reduces  or  wholly 
removes  the  superfluous  part.  Why  this  difference  ? 
This  is  the  riddle  of  life.  This  is  the  question 
that  evolution  cannot  answer.  A  mere  statement 
of  the  law  leaves  it  as  one  of  those  primary  prin- 
ciples which  make  up  the  regimen  of  life  and  dis- 
closes it  as  a  new  thing  in  the  world. 

§4.  In  the  enumeration,  therefore,  of  the  laws  by 
which  the  organic  world  is  brought  forward,  those 
forces  which  are  the  expression  of  existing  physical 
conditions  constitute  but  an  insignificant  part  of 
the  whole.  The  reasons,  then,  which  make  for  evo- 
lution and  those  which  make  against  it,  are  both 
very  imperative.  How  shall  they  be  reconciled  ? 
If  we  grant  the  presence  of  a  spiritual  agency  the 
difficulty  disappears.  If  evolution  takes  place 
along  definite  lines  of  growth  with  variable  incre- 
ments, every  causal  force  is  retained  in  free  activity, 
and  the  continuity  and  systematic  character  of  the 
results  are  fully  explained.  But  this  is  theism,  and 
the  organic  world  calls  for  it  by  a  large  amount 
of  the  most  important  phenomena,  intellectually 
considered,  which  are  unexplained  by  any  other 
view. 

(1)  The  definite  plan  in  leading  and  secondary 
divisions  of  plants  and  animals  finds  an  immediate 
reason.      The  divisions  and    subdivisions  of  these 


I46       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    VEGETABLE    KINGDOM. 

two  kingdoms  have  the  kind  of  regularity  which 
belong  to  the  upward  branching  of  a  tree,  and  call, 
therefore,  in  the  same  way  for  a  controlling  power. 
The  wrecks  of  accident,  the  malformations  of  chance, 
the  vagaries  of  fortuitous  forces,  which  should  so 
thickly  strew  the  paths  of  evolution  are  either  not 
present,  or  present  only  as  the  very  partial  mis- 
carriage which  attends  on  general  laws.  Evolution 
thus  becomes  what  it  ought  to  be,  what  life  itself 
is,  an  inscrutable  power  pushing  toward  a  distinct 
and  desirable  issue. 

(2)  There  are  species.  It  is  found  that  variation, 
no  matter  how  great  its  range  in  a  given  plant  or 
animal,  as  in  a  geranium  or  a  pigeon,  has  limits  be- 
yond which  it  cannot  be  pushed.  The  movement 
in  variation  may  be  likened  to  the  vibration  of  a 
pendulum.  The  arc  may  be  greater  or  smaller,  but 
it  is  always  related  to  a  centre,  and,  as  either  ex- 
tremity is  approached,  the  motion  is  slower  with 
more  expense  of  power.  It  is  true  also  that  species, 
in  relation  to  each  other,  are  proximately  barren. 
This  law  shows  sufficient  force  to  maintain  the 
limits  of  species.  Farther,  secondary  changes  in 
species  are  not  transmitted  with  infinite  subdivision 
and  in  indifferent  combinations,  but  tend  to  a  cer- 
tain entirety  with  complete  transfer.  Thus  the  off- 
spring of  pink-legged  and  yellow-legged  chickens 
do  not  show  a  third  combined  color,  but  are  divided 
between  the  two  primitive  colors.  The  children  of 
parents,  one  of  whom  has  more  than  the  usual 
number  of  digits,  will  not  subdivide  the  tendency 
so  as  to  produce  a  deformity,  but  will  either  take  it 


EVOLUTION.  .    I47 

up  or  leave  it  in  a  symmetrical  or  semi-symmetrical 
way.  It  is  open  to  our  daily  observation  that  child- 
ren, with  transmitted  qualities,  show  none  the  less 
a  consistent  personality,  and  not  one  of  fractional 
composition  merely.  Thus  even  twins  will  possess 
very  distinct  characteristics. 

(3)  There  are  "  sports  ;  "  that  is,  decided  changes 
in  forms  of  life,  carrying  with  them  all  correlative 
and  supporting  conditions.  A  well  known  example 
of  this  was  the  Ancon  sheep.  The  many  new  varie- 
ties of  flowers  and  fruits  are  instances  more  or  less 
distinctly  in  order.  A  distinct  change  of  base  is  a 
real  though  a  rare  fact  in  the  organic  world,  and  to 
these  changes  we  can  set  no  definite  limits.  They 
are  plainly  neither  slight  nor  fortuitous.  This  is  all 
that  the  theory  of  rational  evolution  with  variable 
increments  calls  for.  This  theory  includes  fully  the 
facts  explained  by  evolution,  evades  the  objections 
that  stand  against  it,  and  makes  plain  what  evolu- 
tion can  not,  to  wit,  order  in  the  organic  kingdoms, 
comparatively  distinct  and  firm  species,  and  changes 
within  our  own  experience  relatively  extended  and 
complete. 

There  are  some  kindred  points  that  can  more 
advantageously  be  considered  in  connection  with 
animal  life.  The  argument  for  the  being  of  God 
can  be  farther  fortified  in  this  connection  by  pre- 
senting a  few  of  the  things  which  indicate  the 
introduction  of  new  tendencies  in  the  vegetable  kinc- 
dom,  tendencies  aptly  related  to  the  general  struc- 
ture of  which  they  form  part,  and  tendencies  which 
embrace   a  distinct   intellectual   element.      We    do 


I48       PROOF    FOUND    IN   THE    VEGETABLE    KINGDOM. 

not  argue  to  the  being  of  God  from  each  bit  of  work 
as  a  separate  contrivance,  but  from  those  broad  re- 
lations which  disclose  the  lines  of  rational  construc- 
tion. The  world  was  not  built  part  by  part,  and 
cannot  properly  be  reasoned  from  in  that  way. 

§  5.  The  vegetable  kingdom  advances  the  argu- 
ment we  have  in  hand  in  two  particulars:  it  shows 
powers  responsive  in  quite  a  new  fashion — a  fashion 
of  which  physical  forces  give  no  suggestion — to  ex- 
ternal conditions,  and  powers  that  express  in  their 
operation  strictly  intellectual  relations.  The  funda- 
mental consideration,  that  the  composition  of  powers 
which  is  constructive  of  each  specific  form  of  life 
and  makes  it  a  distinct  potency  in  the  world  is 
something  more  than  a  group  of  physical  forces, 
we  can  best  advance  and  defend  in  connnection 
with  animal  life.  We  now  simply  specify  a  few  of 
the  more  remarkable  activities  in  this  field. 

The  vegetable  kingdom  shows  in  its  various  parts 
an  extended,  delicate  and  peculiar  sensitiveness  to 
light.  Roots  shun  it,  stems  seek  it,  leaves  adjust 
themselves  to  it  in  one  way,  flowers  in  other  ways, 
while  tendrils,  like  roots,  turn  away  from  it.  The 
light  is  the  great  constructive  agency  of  this  king- 
dom ;  the  leaf  recognizes  the  fact,  and  adjusts  and 
readjusts  itself,  seeking  those  relations  to  the  light 
which  its  own  functions  demand.  If  disturbed  in 
this  fitting  position,  it  will,  if  possible,  regain  it.  It 
is  instinct  with  its  own  law  and  life.  The  root 
and  the  tendril,  on  the  other  hand,  have  another 
determination  according  to  their  functions,  the  one 
seeking   nourishment  and   support,   and    the  other 


EXAMPLES.  149 

simple  support.  Light  indicates  open  spaces,  and 
both  shun  the  light  as  offering  nothing  to  them. 
The  flower,  with  its  rich  colors,  is  interested  in  the 
light  in  still  another  way.  It  is  coy  or  open  in  its 
presence  according  to  its  own  variable  habit.  It 
flaunts  itself  all  day  long,  or  elects  the  morning  or 
the  evening  light,  or  with  rare  timidity  reserves  it- 
self for  the  night  alone.  The  vegetable  kingdom  is 
thus  sensitive  in  many  new  and  delicate  ways  toward 
the  light,  in  the  fulfillment  of  particular  functions 
and  in  the  fellowship  of  its  own  beauty  ;  nor  are 
these  sensibilities  at  all  within  the  scope  of  physical 
forces. 

A  singular  discrimination,  combining  somewhat 
that  of  taste  and  touch  in  man,  is  found  in  certain 
plants,  more  especially  in  sun-dews,  pitcher-plants 
and  fly-traps.  We  satisfy  ourselves  with  the  most 
concise  enumeration  of  the  points  included.  The 
subject  is  fully  presented  in  Insectivorous  Plants 
and  in  How  Plants  Behave.  (1)  A  wonderful  deli- 
cacy of  touch  is  disclosed  in  the  discernment  of 
the  smallest  particles.  (2)  Their  exact  position 
on  the  irritable  surface  is  recognized.  (3)  Their 
nature,  as  nutritive  or  otherwise,  is  perceived. 
(4)  If  the  object  is  an  insect,  the  plant  suits  its 
action  to  the  thickness  of  the  integument  of  the 
insect,  and  moves  also  more  eagerly  if  it  be  alive 
than  if  it  be  dead.  (5)  It  distinguishes  between 
a  momentary  touch  and  a  prolonged  pressure, 
and  between  air  and  water  and  a  solid  substance. 
The  plant  is  thus  guided  toward  the  right  effort, 
and    guarded   against    futile   labor  in   a  variety  of 


I50      PROOF    FOUND    IN   THE    VEGETABLE    KINGDOM. 

perceptions  approximating  those  of  a  conscious 
sense. 

A  similar  cluster  of  curious  sensibilities  and 
powers  is  presented  by  the  tendrils  of  climbing 
plants.*  (1)  The  tendril,  by  a  revolution  of  its 
own,  searches  for  the  required  support.  (2)  In  do- 
ing this  it  avoids  contact  with  other  portions  of  the 
same  plant.  (3)  It  is  sensitive  to  the  slightest 
touch.  (4)  It  discriminates  between  contact  with 
water,  another  tendril  of  the  same  plant,  and  a  for- 
eign substance.  (5)  It  avoids  the  light.  (6)  When 
it  has  secured  an  attachment  it  changes  rapidly  in 
structure,  gaining  strength  and  rigidity.  (7)  When 
it  fails  to  find  a  support,  it  shrivels  up  and  drops 
away.  (8)  In  some  instances,  as  in  the  Ampelop- 
sis,  it  attaches  itself  to  a  tree  or  wall  by  a  foot  or 
disc. 

There  is  another  action  of  the  tendril  still  more 
remarkable,  by  which  it  draws  the  vine  closely  to 
the  object  clasped,  and  at  the  same  time  makes  the 
tie  an  elastic  one.  This  is  favorably  seen  in  the  pas- 
sion-flower. When  the  delicate  tendril  has  reached 
a  support,  and  is  extended  to  its  full  length,  it  ini- 
tiates a  movement  whose  mechanical  conditions 
are  -very  difficult.  A  small  section  of  the  tendril 
rises  out  of  the  general  line  of  the  tendril,  and  then 
begins  slowly  to  revolve  about  that  line.  It  thus 
forms  a  coil  on  either  side,  running  in  opposite  di- 
rections. The  formation  of  this  coil  is  accompanied 
by  a  rapidly  increasing  rigidity  of  fibre.  In  some 
instances  this  movement  commences  at  two  points, 
the  revolution  of  the  two  sections  being  in  opposite 

*  Climbing  Plants. 


NUMBER.  151 

directions.  If  they  were  both  to  revolve  in  the 
same  direction,  no  coil  would  be  formed  in  the  part 
of  the  tendril  included  between  them.  It  is  not 
easy  to  conceive  of  the  method  of  action  of  those 
internal  forces  by  which  so  singular,  yet  so  specific 
and  serviceable,  an  action  is  accomplished. 

§  6.  But  the  powers  in  plants  are  not  merely  beyond 
the  range  of  physical  forces,  they  distinctly  reach, 
in  their  results,  relations  of  a  clearly  intellectual 
order.  The  first  we  mention  is  number.  What  reason 
can  be  given,  based  on  the  action  of  fortuitous  forces, 
why  a  family  should  be  carefully  constructed  on 
a  numerical  correspondence  of  parts,  as  the  order 
Liliaceoe  on  the  number  three  ?  Yet  this  is  a  fact  so 
frequent  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  as  to  add  much 
interest  and  guidance  to  all  inquiries  in  it.  The 
most  noticeable  numerical  relation  in  this  kingdom 
is  that  involved  in  the  arrangement  of  leaves. 
Leaves  on  a  stem,  scales  about  a  disc,  flowers  on  a 
disc  are  placed  in  spirals.  These  spirals  are  not  the 
same,  and  are  defined  by  the  number  of  circuits 
around  the  stem  as  contrasted  with  the  number  of 
leaves  in  the  circuits  considered.  We  have  thus 
the  fractions  one-half,  one-third,  two-fifths,  three- 
eighths,  each  succeeding  fraction  being  formed  by 
the  addition  of  the  numerators  and  denominators 
of  the  two  preceding  ones,  as  the  formulae  of  these 
relations.  The  fraction  one-half  expresses  one  cir- 
cuit and  two  leaves ;  the  fraction  one-third,  one 
circuit  and  three  leaves.  The  remaining  fractions 
are  combinations  of  these  two.  Two-fifths  repre- 
sents two  circuits  and  five  leaves ;    three-eighths, 


152       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    VEGETABLE    KINGDOM. 

three  circuits  and  eight  leaves.  Strangely  enough 
these  fractions  express  also  the  ratios  between  the 
times  of  revolution  of  the  planets  around  the  sun 
measured  in  days.  "  The  period  of  Uranus  is  half 
that  of  Neptune,  the  period  of  Saturn  one-third 
that  of  Uranus,  the  period  of  Jupiter  two-fifths 
that  of  Saturn."  * 

This  law  of  phyllotaxis  is  certainly  a  curious  and 
interesting  one.  It  seems  to  involve  a  direct  and 
subtile  recognition  of  complicated  numerical  rela- 
tions. It  has  been  suggested  that  this  disposition 
of  leaves  on  a  stem  would  secure  the  best  exposure 
of  each  to  the  light,  and,  therefore,  once  occurring, 
could  be  laid  hold  of  and  perpetuated  by  natural 
selection.  This  is  an  explanation  of  the  feeblest 
character.  It  hardly  yields  a  shimmer  of  light.  It 
gives  no  attention  to  the  immense  improbability 
that  such  an  arrangement  should  occur,  not  merely 
in  one  plant,  but  generally,  in  various  yet  allied 
ratios,  throughout  the  vegetable  kingdom  ;  and  it  at- 
taches a  preposterous  value  to  it  in  the  struggle 
for  life.  The  leaves  on  a  stem  soon  fall  away,  and 
are  not  so  crowded  as  to  make  their  precise  arrange- 
ment a  matter  of  moment  in  securing  light.  In 
most  trees,  owing  to  the  irregular  development  of 
buds,  all  trace  of  the  law  disappears  in  the  tree  as 
a  composite  whole.  In  cones,  as  those  of  the  pine, 
and  in  discs,  as  those  of  the  sun-flower,  the  arrange- 
ment is  one  simply  of  interest  to  the  eye,  as  much 
so  as  the  corresponding  lines  of  chasing  on  the  back 
of  one's  watch.  The  scales  and  seeds  in  each  case 
are  set  closely,  and  gain   little  in  light  by  their  pe- 

*  Religion  and  Chemistry,  p.  299. 


TIME.  153 

culiar  position.  We  offer  this  phyllotaxis  as  an 
example  of  an  extended  numerical  law  with  clear 
intellectual  relations. 

Time  is  also  a  notion  of  peculiar  mental  signifi- 
cance. Physical  forces  do  not  adjust  themselves  to 
the  future,  but  to  the  present :  while  mind  by  pre- 
eminence shapes  passing  events  in  reference  to 
coming  ones.  The  future  in  its  needs  is  made  po- 
tent in  the  present  hour.  The  vegetable  kingdom 
is  full  of  this  anticipation,  this  immediate  reflection 
of  a  coming  exigency.  The  growth  of  one  year  is 
preparatory  for  that  of  the  next  year.  By  means 
of  the  sap  which  has  been  stored  in  its  roots,  the 
maple  can  put  forth  in  the  first  days  of  spring  a 
surface  of  foliage  comparable  in  its  extent  and  sud- 
den unfolding  to  the  unfurling  of  the  canvas  of  a 
three-decker.  An  oak  in  two  weeks  will  outline  all 
over  the  tree  the  growth  of  an  entire  season. 

The  bud  is  expressly  made  ready  in  the  fall  for 
rapid  work  in  the  opening  year,  and  very  carefully 
packed  in  down,  scales  and  wax,  that  it  may  pass 
safely  through  the  winter.  The  seed  involves  a 
still  more  extended  relation  to  time.  This  is  seen 
in  the  very  fact  of  a  seed,  in  its  methods  of  pro- 
tection, in  the  nourishment  with  which  its  germ  is 
provided,  in  means  of  dissemination,  and  in  its  often- 
times wonderful  vitality.  In  many  seeds  this  stor- 
ing of  food  for  the  feeble  plant  is  very  obvious. 
The  germ  is  well  provided  and  launched  with  a 
keen  forecast  of  the  conditions  of  a  prosperous 
voyage. 

A  good  deal  of  emphasis  has  been  laid   on  the 


154       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    VEGETABLE    KINGDOM. 

various  ways  in  which  seeds  are  provided  with  the 
means  of  dissemination.  The  eye  is  attracted  to 
them  because  they  are  often  so  unique,  so  curious, 
and  so  mechanical.  It  is,  perhaps,  quite  as  inter- 
esting to  observe  that  trees  not  so  favored,  and  even 
burdened  by  the  production  of  seeds  especially 
sought  after  by  animals,  do  none  the  less  readily 
hold  their  own  in  the  struggle  of  life.  The  birch, 
that  will  send  its  tiny  fringed  seeds  sailing  in  all 
directions  for  weeks  on  the  winds  of  summer,  can 
not  expel  the  oak,  nor  even  the  chestnut,  from  their 
due  share  of  soil,  though  propagated  by  seeds  costly 
in  production  and  preyed  on  extensively  by  ani- 
mals. The  Impatiens,  with  its  explosive  seed-ves- 
sel, has  yet  a  very  narrow  range  in  any  given  terri- 
tory, and  can  not  go  beyond  it.  If  it  flings  its  seeds 
over  the  line  of  rich,  damp  and  shady  soil,  they  are 
simply  lost. 

The  wonderful  vitality  of  many  seeds  is  a  most 
influential  fact.  Seeds,  as  of  the  pine,  remain  dor- 
mant for  many  years,  and  then,  under  a  change  of 
conditions,  start  up  in  general  activity,  covering  at 
once  unoccupied  fields  with  a  forest-growth.  It 
may  be  said  that  this  vitality  finds  an  easy  recog- 
nition by  natural  selection.  Certainly,  but  does 
that  explain  it?  It  simply  restates,  in  another  re- 
lation, the  fact  to  be  explained,  to  wit,  that  such 
vitality  does  exist  and  is  efficacious.  Its  efficacy 
follows  of  course  if  the  vitality  is  present,  and  the 
only  solution  which  natural  selection  has  to  offer 
to  this  primary  fact  is,  that  it  is  one  among  the 
possible   results  of  fortuitous  forces,  and   this  is  a 


FOOD    AND    LIFE.  155 

solution  of  so  singular  an  order  that  it  renders 
henceforward  any  explicit  explanations  unnecessary. 
The  one  comprehensive  remark  applies  equally  well 
to  every  event.  The  time  is  not  far  off  when  such 
an  exposition,  repeated  over  and  over  again,  against 
all  probabilities,  to  account  for  the  ever  returning 
order  and  beauty  of  the  world,  will  be  regarded  as 
a  feeble  child  overlain. 

Anticipation  in  vegetable  life  seems  also,  on  the 
face  of  the  facts,  pervasively  present  in  the  pro- 
vision made  by  it  for  the  nourishment  of  animal 
life.  This  proof  admits,  however,  of  an  easy  eva- 
sion, by  regarding  the  life  as  a  causal  sequence  of 
the  food,  rather  than  the  food  as  a  preparation  for 
the  life.  The  relation  is  thus  exclusively  one  of 
causes,  and  not  of  final  causes.  We  cannot  feel 
fully  the  inadequacy  of  this  statement,  till  we  have 
considered  the  world  collectively,  and  seen  how 
extendedly  it  is  interlaced  with  provisions  which 
exclude  the  supposition  that  they  are  present,  one 
and  all,  without  reference  to  the  ends  which  they 
subserve ;  and  till  we  have  given  proper  weight  to 
the  fact  that  animal  life  is  not  a  product  of  food, 
but  that  food  is  simply  a  condition  to  the  inde- 
pendent powers  expressed  by  it.  Food  must  be 
before  animal  life  can  be,  but  this  food,  being  pres- 
ent, does  not  carry  with  it  the  life  that  is  to  feed 
upon  it. 

There  are  some  secondary  provisions  which  are 
not  open  to  this  objection.  Vegetable  life  accom- 
modates itself  to  the  wants  of  insects  in  a  mechanical 
way  very  often,  sheltering  the  young  between  the 


156      PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    VEGETABLE    KINGDOM. 

layers  of  the  leaf,  or  wrapping  the  leaf  around  them. 
The  action  at  times  is  much  more  special,  as  in  the 
oak-ball.  When  the  oak-leaf  is  stung  by  the  favored 
insect,  it  takes  on  a  new  form  of  growth  which 
has  exclusive  reference  to  the  wants  of  the  animal. 
It  results  in  a  ball  admirably  fitted  to  the  protec- 
tion of  the  egg.  The  egg  is  left  at  its  centre,  and 
first  enclosed  with  hard  woody  fibre.  This  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  loose,  moss-like  growth,  and  the  whole 
is  enclosed  with  a  tough  paper-like  covering.  And 
so  the  ball,  finished  and  sealed,  hangs  pendulous, 
waiting  the  new  life. 

§  7.  An  equally  remarkable  and  purely  intellec- 
tual idea  which  pervades  the  vegetable  kingdom  is 
beauty,  beauty  in  form,  arrangement,  color ;  beauty 
in  detached  parts  and  in  masses.  No  considerable 
portion  of  this  beauty  admits  of  explanation  other- 
wise than  as  a  product  of  mind  addressed  to  mind. 
It  springs  primarily  out  of  the  symmetrical  ten- 
dency which  characterizes  nearly  every  form  of  life, 
and  secondarily  out  of  rare  relations  and  combina- 
tions of  forms  and  colors  quite  exceeding  any  pur- 
pose subserved  in  the  mechanical  disposition  of 
parts. 

The  inexplicable  symmetry  which  expresses  itself 
in  an  elm,  a  pine,  a  spruce,  is  the  grand  emotional 
power  of  this  great  kingdom.  To  this  there  is 
added  a  more  narrow  and  delicate  symmetry  and 
oftentimes  an  exquisite  finish  of  parts  in  the  outlines 
of  leaves,  in  the  forms  and  colors  of  flowers.  Ob- 
serve, for  instance,  the  outline  of  the  clover-leaf  as 
further  emphasized  by  the   shades  of  color  within 


BEAUTY.  157 

the  leaf  itself.  Mark  the  very  distinct  and  admira- 
ble symmetry  which  often  characterizes  the  arrange- 
ment of  stamens,  when  they  depart,  as  in  the  Pent- 
stemon  secundiflorus  from  regular  forms.  The 
same  fact  also  is  expressed  more  showily  in 
petals,  as  in  the  Leguminoseae,  or  in  violets,  or  in 
orchids.  No  one  can  have  studied  plants  without 
feeling  this  inner  sense  of  symmetry  and  relation 
which  goes  with  them  everywhere.  How  admira- 
bly are  colors  matched  with  each  other  in  flowers  ! 
What  rare  plants  do  the  Acquilegia  cserulea  and 
chrysantha  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  become,  their 
unique  forms  set  off  in  purple  and  white,  in  straw 
color  and  yellow;  the  purity  of  the  interior  of  the 
flower  sustaining  the  brilliancy  of  its  exterior.  Nor 
is  this  relation  confined  to  predominant  colors,  but 
extends  to  the  nicest  shading  of  colors,  and  sprink- 
ling of  colors  one  upon  another.  The  last  effect  is 
often  secured  by  the  anthers  of  the  stamens,  as  they 
lie  on  the  petals  beneath  them.  One  may  explain 
in  part  the  general  form  of  orchids  by  the  domestic 
economy  of  the  plant  in  the  fertilization  of  its 
flowers,  but  he  can  not  so  explain  the  admirable 
finish  and  proportion  of  the  parts,  and  the  absence 
in  them  of  anything  merely  mechanical.  He  may 
account  for  bright  colors  as  attracting  insects,  and 
for  honey  as  the  price  of  labor,  but  he  can  not  in 
this  way  cover  up  the  emotional  force  of  the  flower 
in  its  very  varied,  very  delicate,  very  beautiful  com- 
bination of  colors.  The  explanations  afforded  by 
evolution  for  the  pervasive  beauty  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom   are  so   utterly  inadequate  as  to  bear  the 


158       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    VEGETABLE    KINGDOM. 

appearance  of  dullness  or  detraction.  Either  the 
emotional,  intellectual  element  is  not  appreciated, 
or  the  merest  fibre  of  thought  is  allowed  to  take  the 
place  in  presentation  of  that  closely  woven  web  of 
beauty,  that  envelopes  the  world  as  an  ample  and 
rich  garment. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PROOF  OF    THE    BEING    OF    GOD    FOUND    IN    THE     ANIMAL 
KINGDOM. 

§  I.  Every  broad,  inclusive  question  necessarily 
involves  many  secondary  ones.  The  principles 
which  guide  our  conclusions  in  one  direction  will 
modify  them  in  many  others.  The  opinion  we 
have  of  the  world  as  pervaded  by  a  Divine  Life  will 
disclose  itself  in  a  much  more  narrow  way  in  our 
view  of  the  nature  of  all  life.  The  characteristics 
of  life  are  present  in  full  force  in  the  animal  king- 
dom, and  our  estimate  of  that  kingdom  in  its  as- 
sociated facts  will  be  deeply  affected  by  our  view 
of  life.  Much  more  will  its  relations  to  the  Uni- 
verse and  to  the  problem  of  creation  be  determined 
in  our  minds  by  this  our  estimate  of  its  primary 
feature. 

The  simplest  view  of  the  living  thing  would  seem 
to  be  that  it  is  a  peculiar  combination  of  physical 
forces,  and  that  these  forces  are  sufficient  to  ex- 
plain all  the  actions  that  belong  to  it.  If  we  grant 
this  last  conclusion,  the  problem  is  not  thereby 
solved,  but  evaded.  Life,  as  a  potency  additional 
to  the  forces  it  guides,  is  not  inferred  from  the  ac- 
tions of  the  living  organism  in   their  ultimate   an- 

159 


l6o  PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 

alysis,  but  from  the  relation  of  these  actions  to 
each  other  and  their  complete  and  permanent  con- 
currence in  a  common  end.  What,  then,  are  the 
facts  that  in  each  case  are  expounded  by  the  plas- 
tic power  termed  life?  If  we  give  the  term  its 
fullest  range,  it  covers  all  those  peculiar  powers 
and  the  laws  of  those  powers  which  belong  to  liv- 
ing things. 

(i)  It  embraces  primarily  a  controlling  tendency 
to  construct  a  complex  specific  organism  through  a 
series  of  changes  known  as  growth.  This  tendency 
is  present  as  a  pervasive  idea  in  every  transition, 
giving  it  form  and  direction.  This  tendency  in- 
cludes many  minor  homologies,  many  obscure  cor- 
relations, many  delicate  correspondences  by  which 
the  symmetry  and  fitness  of  growth  are   preserved. 

(2)  Life  covers  also  a  subordinate  tendency  to 
watch  over  this  organism  in  various  ways,  to  insti- 
tute action  corrective  of  disease  and  restorative 
after  injury.  (3)  It  embraces  a  movement  of 
propagation,  by  which  the  specific  life,  in  complet- 
ing one  circuit  of  development,  provides  the  con- 
ditions of  second  circuits,  and  these  in  turn  of  third 
circuits.  Under  this  tendency  of  life  to  renew  it- 
self are  contained  (a)  the  law  of  inheritance,  by 
which  the  special  combination  of  forces  which  be- 
longs to  the  parent  reappears  in  the  offspring  ;  (/?) 
the  law  of  variation,  by  which  these  forces  in  their 
passage  take  on  secondary  modifications,  more  usu- 
ally those  of  adaptation  to  new  conditions  ;  (c)  and 
the  law  of  atavism  by  which  these  modifications  are 
dropped,  when  the  provoking  causes  disappear. 


LIFE.  l6l 

Life  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  mere  group  of 
physical  forces,  because  the  phenomena  involved  in 
these  laws — than  which  none  are  more  plain  and 
persistent — are  left  unexplained.  The  workmen 
without  the  architect  do  not  account  for  the 
building,  no  more  do  mechanical,  chemical,  thermal 
forces  account  for  the  body  of  man  without  the 
plastic  power  that  presides  over  its  construction, 
repair  and  transmission.  Neither  can  this  plastic 
power  be  another  force  or  other  forces,  introduced 
among  the  physical  forces  at  work  in  4;he  living 
body  ;  and  this,  again,  for  the  same  reason,  that  a 
second  gang  of  hands  do  not  explain  the  edifice. 
Physical  forces  have  definite  centres  and  distinct 
forms  of  action,  and  no  forces  of  this  limited  quality 
can  cover  the  complicated  and  changeable  phenom- 
ena of  life,  ranging  progressively  through  long 
periods. 

There  have  been  two  physical  theories  of  life  re- 
cently offered,  one  by  Mr.  Darwin  and  one  by  Mr. 
Spencer.  They,  at  least,  subserve  this  purpose, 
they  are  a  tacit  acceptance  of  the  assertion,  that 
life  is  a  very  undeniable  fact  with  peremptory  claims 
on  our  attention.  It  is  not  something  which  can 
be  pushed  into  the  background  and  forgotten. 
Both  theories  have  originated  under  a  necessity  felt 
by  their  authors  to  ascribe  these  plain  facts  to  some 
adequate  physical  causes,  endowed  at  least  with 
conjectural  seats  and  characteristics.  Darwin  re- 
fers them  to  gemmules,  indefinitely  small  and  in- 
definitely numerous,  which  pervade  all  parts  of  a 
living  body,  represent  all  parts   and  are  capable  of 


l62  PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 

unlimited  multiplication  by  division.  These  gem- 
mules,  omnipresent,  and  with  a  universal  represent- 
ative power  are  endowed  with  a  tendency  on  each 
fitting  occasion,  in  happy  relation  to  the  coetaneous 
processes  and  successive  stages  of  the  living  organ- 
ism, to  reproduce  all  its  parts  and  organs. 

The  objections  to  this  theory  are  so  obvious,  and 
so  fatal,  that  they  would  hardly  be  worth  rendering, 
did  they  not  go  further  than  the  reduction  of  the 
theory  to  which  they  apply  by  helping  to  disclose 
the  insufficiency  of  any  purely  physical  hypothesis. 
(l)  We  have  no  knowledge  whatever  of  any  gem- 
mules.  There  is  not  the  smallest  surface  of  fact  on 
which  to  build  the  theory.  (2)  These  innumerable 
gemmules  are  inserted  into  an  apparent  plenum. 
The  living  thing  seems  to  be  made  up  through  all 
its  tissues  of  known  elements,  and  to  give  no  room 
for  a  second,  interior  structure  and  circulation.  (3) 
These  gemmules  are  very  foreign  in  their  endow- 
ments to  any  known  molecules,  and  are  to  that  de- 
gree improbable.  (4)  Their  endowments  are  of 
an  intellectual  rather  than  of  a  physical  order, 
though  they  are  to  take  rank  with  physical  forces. 
These  gemmules  work  together  in  a  plan  which  in- 
volves parts  separated  in  space,  and  stages  widely 
sundered  in  time.  No  purely  physical  force  is  fitted 
to  compass  these  extended  and  these  variable  intel- 
lectual combinations.  There  would  be  an  end  of 
all  exact  knowledge,  if,  without  analysis  or  specifica- 
tion, we  were  at  liberty  to  lump  in  this  way  needed 
agencies,  and  assign  them  an  unknown  physical 
status.      (5)  This  theory  reaches  what  explanation 


LIFE.  163 

it  offers  by  the  vicious  process  of  a  reduction  and 
concealment  of  terms.  We  may  as  well  call  the 
living  body  as  a  whole  a  gemmule,  and  endow  it  off- 
hand with  all  living  powers,  as  to  evoke  these  infini- 
tesimals, and  clothe  them  with  a  complete  suit  of 
supersensual  properties.  We  hide  in  this  way  the 
problem  in  the  dust  of  thought  we  have  raised  about 
it,  we  do  not  solve  it.  St.  George  Mivart,  in  his 
Genesis  of  Species,  has  pointed  out  another  and  more 
narrow  series  of  objections  to  which  this  theory  is 
exposed  ;  it  is  enough  for  our  purposes  to  see  that 
it  has  no  foundation  in  known  facts,  that  it  explains 
nothing,  that  it  adds  complexity  to  complexity. 

The  theory  of  physiological  units  by  Mr.  Spencer, 
has  a  slight  advantage  of  simplicity  over  that  of  Mr. 
Darwin.  It  supposes  the  living  body  to  be  per- 
vaded by  indefinitely  minute  and  numerous  physio- 
logical units,  each  of  which  has  a  tendency  to  repeat 
the  whole  organism.  The  same  objections  hold  as 
before.  We  have  names  and  obscure  ideas,  but  no 
things,  and  no  correspondence  with  any  known 
thing.  The  supposition  has  no  working  power,  it  is 
entangled  at  once  in  its  own  intolerable  perplexity. 
We  might  as  well  try  to  conceive  each  brick,  not 
merely  in  one  building,  but  in  an  indefinitely  ex- 
tended series  of  buildings,  endowed  with  construc- 
tive properties  by  which  it  should  take  its  own  place 
and  help  to  assign  every  other  brick  its  place  in  the 
successive  structures,  and  should,  at  the  same  time, 
pass  its  properties  on  to  all  other  bricks,  taking  part 
in  this  reel. 

Not  only  is  this  theory  of  physiological  units  ab- 


164  PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 

surdly  beyond  experience, — and  therefore  in  Mr. 
Spencer's  favorite  word  of  censure  wholly  "  inconceiv- 
able " — but  it  is  in  equally  flagrant  violation  of  the 
canon  of  the  fewest  causes.  Before  the  theory,  we 
had  but  one  gross  living  body,  inscrutably  endowed, 
after  the  theory  we  have  in  that  same  body  well 
nigh  an  infinite  number  of  bodies,  endowed  after 
the  same  marvelous  fashion,  and  still  we  have  no 
way  of  harmonizing  their  actions  one  with  another 
in  the  construction  of  living  things.  We  have  a 
million  architects  each  working — how,  with  or  with- 
out reference  to  the  others? 

When  we  are  not  able  to  render  sufficient  or 
harmonious  reasons  for  any  facts,  our  next  best  re- 
source is  to  state  those  facts  in  their  simplest  form, 
and  leave  them  without  any  verbal  concealments. 
Mr.  Spencer  seems  to  think,  strangely  enough,  that 
his  own  method  approaches  this  result.  "  There  is 
suggested  the  hypothesis,  that  the  form  of  each 
species  of  organism  is  determined  by  a  peculiarity 
in  the  construction  of  its  units — that  these  have  a 
special  structure  in  which  they  tend  to  arrange 
themselves,  just  as  have  the  simple  units  of  inor- 
ganic matter.  Let  us  glance  at  the  evidences  which 
more  especially  thrust  the  conclusion  upon  us.  A 
fragment  of  a  Begonia  leaf  imbedded  in  fit  soil  and 
kept  at  an  appropriate  temperature,  will  develop  a 
young  Begonia,  and  so*  small  is  the  fragment  which 
is  thus  capable  of  originating  a  complete  plant, 
that  something  like  a  hundred  plants  might  be 
produced  from  a  single  leaf.  *  *  *  What  now 
is  the   implication  ?     We   cannot  say  that  in  each 


LIFE.  165 

portion  of  a  Begonia  leaf  and  in  every  fragment  of 
a  Hydra's  body  there  exists  a  ready-formed  model 
of  the  entire  organism.  *  *  *  We  have,  there- 
fore, no  alternative  but  to  say  that  the  living  par- 
ticles composing  one  of  these  fragments,  have  an 
innate  tendency  to  arrange  themselves  into  the 
shape  of  the  organism  to  which  they  belong.  We 
must  infer  that  a  plant  or  animal  of  any  species 
is  made  up  of  special  units,  in  all  of  which  there 
dwells  the  intrinsic  aptitude  to  aggregate  in  the 
form  of  that  species,  just  as  in  the  atoms  of  salts, 
there  dwells  the  intrinsic  aptitude  to  crystallize  in  a 
particular  way.  It  seems  difficult  to  conceive  that 
this  can  be  so,  but  we  see  that  it  is  so.  Groups  of 
units  taken  from  an  organism  (provided  they  are  of 
a  certain  bulk  and  not  much  differentiated  into 
special  structure)  have  this  power  of  rearranging 
themselves  ;  and  we  are  thus  compelled  to  recog- 
nize the  tendency  to  assume  the  specific  form,  as  in- 
herent in  all  parts  of  the  organism."* 

The  passage  is  open  to  two  observations.  First, 
the  induction  is  quite  too  broad  for  the  premises. 
What  is  true  of  the  Begonia  and  Hydra  is  not 
true  of  a  large  share  of  living  things.  Yet  these 
narrow  facts  are  taken  as  typical  in  a  theory  which 
is  to  cover  the  whole  field  to  which  they  belong. 
Secondly,  the  hypothesis  is  in  no  sense  a  statement 
of  the  facts,  but  is  in  every  part  of  it  induced 
upon  the  facts.  What  are  the  simple  facts?  Are 
they  not  these?  The  living  substance  in  its  growth 
— a  growth  that  is  variable  in  different  species  in  its 
antecedent  conditions — does,  as  a  whole,  and  in  the 

*  Principles  of  Biology,  vol.  i.,  p.  [80. 


l66  PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    'ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 

relation  of  each  part  and  stage  to  the  whole,  put 
forth  its  organs  and  functions  in  order  as  they  are 
included  in  the  type.  That  these  tendencies  lie 
latent  anywhere  and  everywhere  in  the  molecules 
embraced  in  the  organism,  is  a  supposition  added  to 
the  facts  under  the  pressure  of  the  idea  of  causa- 
tion. We  might  as  well  affirm,  as  far  as  the  facts 
themselves  go,  that  the  peculiar  tendencies  are  to 
be  referred  to  the  new  atoms  taken  on,  as  to  affirm 
that  they  belong  to  the  old  atoms  receiving  them. 
The  two  are  apparently  partners  to  one  inscrutable 
transaction.  Or  we  may  conclude  that  the  new  dis- 
position is  found  in  neither  set  nor  in  both  sets  of 
atoms  as  a  primitive  endowment,  but  that,  as  a  su- 
perior plastic  power,  it  acts  upon  both  under  given 
conditions.  The  facts  are  simply  those  of  a  serial 
development  taking  up  a  given  order  with  no  dis- 
closure whatever  of  the  seat  of  the  presiding  power 
beyond  that  contained  in  denning  the  field  of  its 
operation.  This  field  is  the  entire  living  organism. 
Any  effort  to  conceive  new  constructive  forces,  or 
assign  them  centres,  is  purely  an  hypothetical  one. 
Let  us  take  any  form  of  life,  as  the  growth  of  an 
oak.  How  preposterously  complex  and  obscure  do 
the  facts  become  under  the  physical  method  of  re- 
garding them.  The  acorn  is  thought  to  contain  in 
some  latent  form  the  constructive  forces  that  are  to 
express  themselves  in  the  oak,  and  then,  by  a  re- 
moter implication  and  deeper  involution,  the  con- 
structive forces  that  are  to  come  to  the  light  in  all 
subsequent  oaks.  The  acorn  is  thus  imaged  as  hold- 
ing in  transition  vital   forces  that  may,  in  their  ex- 


LIFE.  167 

pansion,  spread  over  a  continent.  Under  the  notion 
of  causation,  which  alone  gives  rise  to  this  concep- 
tion, either  the  vital  forces  of  the  acorn  are  capable 
of  indefinite  multiplication  in  other  acorns,  equally 
well  endowed  with  itself ;  or  subsequent  acorns 
steadily  subdivide  these  vital  forces ;  or  vital  forces 
can  be  indefinitely  increased  by  a  constant  trans- 
mutation into  them  of  physical  forces.  Each  branch 
of  these  alternatives  is  incomprehensible.  The  first 
violates  the  law  of  causation,  the  effect  being  greater 
than  the  cause ;  the  second  is  at  war  with  experi- 
ence ;  and  the  third  carries  with  it  no  proof.  That 
relatively  crude  physical  forces  can  be  translated 
directly  into  all  the  manifold  energies  expressed  in 
life,  is  an  exceedingly  bold  assertion.  When  an  acorn 
dies,  what  becomes  of  its  vital  forces?  This  is  a 
most  pertinent  question,  if  these  forces  are  forces, 
that  is,  distinctly  revealed  physical  energies.  The 
fact  that  germs,  or  parts  of  living  organisms,  are  the 
only  known  conditions  of  propagating  any  form  of 
life,  is  significant  in  this  connection.  That  this 
law  is  very  nearly  universal  none  can  doubt,  and  the 
balance  of  evidence  still  remains,  that  it  is  a  law 
without  exception.  Proof  to  the  contrary  has  so 
uniformily  given  way  before  more  thorough  meth- 
ods, that  a  very  strong  presumption  lies  against  any 
evidence  that  may  still  be  offered.  It  is  certainly  a 
law,  probably  the  absolute  law  of  life,  that  its  plastic 
powers  work  only  along  continuous  lines.  Simple 
physical  forces  show  no  relation  to  any  form  of  life, 
except  as  they  touch  these  lives.  They  are  then 
drawn  into  the  service  of  this  presiding  presence, 


1 68  PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE   ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 

but  no  proof  can  be  offered  that  they  themselves 
either  pass  into  this  power,  or  are  nourished  by  its 
decay. 

If  we  take  this  fact  of  life,  in  its  circuit  from  the 
acorn  to  the  oak  bearing  many  hundred  acorns, 
what  is  the  simplest  analogy,  the  one  most  closely 
allied  to  some  fact  in  our  experience,  by  which  we 
can  explain  it  ?  The  physical  forces  present  through- 
out, and  present  under  their  own  activities,  are 
drawn  from  the  great  reservoirs  of  force  about  us. 
There  is  no  mystery  here.  The  plastic  power,  on 
the  other  hand,  seems  to  be  simply  a  shaping  power 
with  no  physical  form  or  fixed  centre.  It  accom- 
panies a  given  organism,  pervades  it,  changes  with 
it.  In  other  words  it  is  more  allied  to  mind  than  to 
matter,  and  ultimately  becomes  the  basis  of  mind. 
The  fact,  then,  most  analogous  to  it,  is  the  central 
one  in  human  experience,  to  wit,  the  influence  which 
the  mind  of  man  exercises  over  his  body.  This  fact 
may  in  some  sense  be  said  to  be  the  same  fact  with 
that  of  life,  lifted  to  its  highest  terms.  Here  is  the 
same  pervasive,  subtle  control  ;  the  same  changea- 
ble power  of  modification;  the  same  sort  of  flexible 
limits  within  which  the  constructive  energy  is  con- 
tained. The  two  facts  are  not  identical,  but  they 
are  analogous.  Life  has,  as  a  plastic  power,  close 
affinity  with  spirit. 

By  far,  then,  the  most  simple  and  sufficient  theory 
of  life  is  the  spiritual  one.  Life  is  a  plastic  power, 
not  a  physical  force,  nor  a  group  of  such  forces.  It 
is  something  which  neither  issues  from  the  world  of 
forces  nor  returns  to  it.    The  living  man  is  indebted 


LAW.  169 

to  nature  only  for  the  subordinate  forces  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  vital  principle,  and  these  alone  the  dying 
man  restores  to  nature.  The  special  plastic  power 
comes  under  laws,  it  propagates  its  kind  under  laws, 
and  departs  under  laws;  but  in  coming,  it  took 
nothing  from  the  physical  world,  and  in  departing, 
it  leaves  nothing  to  it. 

§2.  But  grave  objections  immediately  arise  to  this 
view  in  all  minds  which  have  drawn  their  ruling  con- 
ceptions from  physical  facts.  Such  persons  regard 
law  as  the  one  fixed  intellectual  term  in  the  Universe, 
and  are  accustomed  to  refer  law  exclusively  to  the 
permanent  character  of  physical  forces.  The 
moment,  therefore,  that  the  lines  of  physical  caus- 
ation are  broken  or  transcended,  law  and  order 
seem  to  them  to  give  way.  So  strong  is  this 
sentiment,  that  it  is  constantly  resulting  in  an  ef- 
fort to  reduce  all  mental  activity  under  physical 
conditions  ;  much  more,  therefore,  does  it  make  a 
determined  effort  to  resist  the  introduction  of  any 
spiritual  element  among  physical  forces.  This  sen- 
timent we  believe  to  be  sound  in  what  may  be 
called  its  instinctive  assertion  of  law,  but  to  be 
quite  astray  in  its  premises.  Will,  and  that  too  in 
its  willful  and  wayward  form,  is  taken  as  the  type  of 
spirit,  and  the  spiritual  is  then  cut  down  to  its  lowest 
terms  with  the  hope  of  its  ultimate  exclusion  from 
assignable  causes.  We  ought  rather  to  recognise  rea- 
son— the  very  reason  that  leads  us  to  take  such 
satisfaction  in  law — as  the  supreme  power  in  spirit 
and  the  ultimate  ground  of  order.  We  would  refer 
matter  in  all   its    fixedness   to  a   Divine   Spirit,  be- 


I70  PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 

cause  it  is  built  together  by  laws  which  are  the 
frame-work  of  a  rational  Universe.  Whether  we 
regard  the  rational  movement  of  things  as  the 
source  of  the  higher  reason,  or  the  higher  reason 
as  the  fountain  of  this  pure  stream  of  law,  reason 
itself  should  not  be  to  us  lawless,  but  every  way  the 
reverse. 

These  physical  laws,  then,  rooted  in  material 
things  and  conformable  to  reason,  are  not  the  only 
types  of  order.  The  laws  of  thought  or  logical 
laws,  the  laws  of  feeling,  the  laws  of  rational  action, 
are  as  strictly  laws,  have  the  same  comprehensible 
coherence,  as  the  lines  of  causation  ;  yet  they  are 
not  lines  of  causation  nor  directly  dependent  on 
them.  If  life  is  a  plastic  power,  it  does  not  thence 
follow  that  it  will  act  without  law.  Its  laws  may 
be  more  complex  and  pliant  than  those  of  simple 
forces,  but  they  may  be  as  wise  and  real.  The  mind 
of  man  is  misled  in  its  estimate  of  reason  because 
its  own  rational  activity  is  instituted  under  a  very 
restricted  survey  of  consequences,  and  is,  therefore, 
more  or  less  vacillating  and  unsafe.  His  purpose,  like 
the  wind  in  any  one  locality  which  seems  to  blow 
where  it  lists,  is  moved  by  immediate  motives,  and 
thus  appears  to  lose  the  scope  of  general  law.  But 
reason,  precisely  in  the  degree  in  which  it  is  com- 
prehensive, becomes,  in  its  action,  firm  and  consecu- 
tive. Its  pliancy  to  passing  conditions  and  its  pur- 
suit of  remote  ends  are  harmonized  with  each 
other,  and  settle  down  into  laws  like  those  of  varia- 
tion and  heredity.  The  plastic  powers,  then,  known 
as  lives,  if  they  have  a  spiritual  origin  and  are  spir- 


LAW    AND    REASON.  I/I 

itual  entities,  are  not,  therefore,  lawless.  They  are 
themselves  products  of  reason,  and  enter  into  a 
complex  plan,  also  the  fruit  of  reason.  They  must, 
therefore,  conform  to  their  own  purposes  and  to 
their  dependencies.  Dependencies  wisely  insti- 
tuted are  not  to  be  momentarily  set  aside.  This 
would  be  to  undo  the  work  of  reason.  Hence  the 
laws  of  life  should  have  in  them  what  they  actually 
have  in  them  ;  first,  the  firmness  of  a  general  pur- 
pose protractedly  pursued,  and  secondly,  all  the  lim- 
itations and  modifications  which  the  physical  con- 
ditions of  the  world,  in  whose  construction  they 
take  part,  impose  on  them.  Every  term  in  reason 
is  a  condition  to  every  other.  Now  is  not  this  what 
we  find,  laws  of  life  and  lives  themselves  shaped  to- 
ward beneficent  and  comprehensive  ends,  and  these 
laws  and  lives  modified  by  physical  circumstances  in 
such  a  way  as  to  keep  the  lines  of  development 
harmonious?  If  we  could  freely  accept  both  these 
factors,  to  wit,  peculiar  primitive  tendencies  carry- 
ing their  own  laws  with  them,  and  external  circum- 
stances offering  to  these  powers  new  conditions  of 
action,  our  minds  would  be  prepared  for  the  sim- 
plest statement  of  the  facts  and  the  relations  in- 
volved. And  this,  after  all,  is  the  sum  of  science. 
It  is  certainly  remarkable  that  after  such  strength 
has  been  expended  in  driving  out  a  spiritual  agency, 
a  new  form  of  words  is  so  often  hit  upon  by  which 
it  finds  readmission.  Thus  at  the  present  time  in- 
telligence, as  a  potential  factor,  is  carried  far  be- 
low consciousness,  and  finds  entrance  as  some 
strange,  inscrutable  term  wherever  its  work  is  seen. 


IJ2  PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 

Haeckel  can  talk  of  the  atom-soul,  plastidul-soul, 
cell-soul,  while  the  simplest  molecule  of  protoplasm 
is  endued  with  sensation  and  motion.  Thus  each 
petty  citizen  in  times  of  anarchy,  bears  off  the  stolen 
spoils  of  a  great  king. 

It  thus  becomes  plain  why  monsters  may  appear 
in  any  line  of  growth.  If  there  are  laws  and  so 
lines  of  growth,  and  if  these  lines  run  parallel  with 
physical  activities  in  interaction  with  them,  this  re- 
sult is  inevitable.  To  bring  forward  the  monster  as 
a  proof  against  Divine  Wisdom,  is  to  affirm  that 
lawlessness  is  better  than  law,  as  the  monster  is  a 
product  of  law  in  one  or  other  of  its  cross  relations ; 
is  to  affirm  that  special  ends  sought  by  special 
means  are  preferable  to  general  ends  pursued  by 
general  means,  and  that  too,  though  the  field  cov 
ered  is  one  made  ready  for  the  common  activity  of 
many  intelligences.  Those  who  find  an  objection 
to  the  wisdom  and  grace  of  God  in  the  monster  are 
generally  those  who  lay  most  emphasis  on  the 
rational  element  of  law  in  the  Universe,  yet,  in  this 
objection,  they  quite  lose  sight  of  this  their  funda- 
mental principle.  In  the  degree  in  which  law, 
order,  reason  are  reasonable,  in  that  degree  is  the 
monster,  the  product  of  partially  colliding  laws,  in- 
evitable. It  is  the  nature  of  laws  in  evolution,  how- 
ever constructive  they  may  be,  to  put  upon  each 
other  limitations.  If  railroads  cross  each  other, 
there  may  be  an  accident. 

§  3.  The  unity  of  action  in  the  world,  notwith- 
standing the  remoteness  from  each  other  of  the 
agents  which   concur  in  the   given  results,  is  strik- 


ORGANIC    COMPOUNDS.  1/3 

ingly  seen  in  the  relation  of  animal  to  vegetable 
life,  and  of  the  two  to  chemical  affinities  and  physi- 
cal forces.  Animal  life  is  directly  dependent  for  its 
conditions  on  three  terms:  the  sun's  rays,  the 
strength  of  chemical  affinities,  and  the  green  tissue 
of  plants.  The  last,  the  laboratory  of  the  physical 
world,  brings  together  the  other  two  terms,  actinic 
energy  and  simple  compounds,  in  such  a  way  as  to 
give  rise  to  the  reactions  needed  in  the  construction 
of  organic  compounds.  These  compounds  are  as  a 
class  exceedingly  complex  in  the  atomic  structure 
of  their  molecules.  The  molecule  of  water  is  com- 
posed of  three  atoms,  that  of  albumen  is  put  as  high 
as  2316  atoms. 

The  four  chief  elements  in  organic  compounds  are 
carbon,  nitrogen,  oxygen  and  hydrogen.  These  are 
in  their  combining  powers  respectively,  quadriva- 
lent, trivalent,  bivalent  and  univalent.  "  Carbon  is 
peculiarly  the  element  of  the  organic  world,  for, 
leaving  out  of  view  the  great  mass  of  water  which 
living  beings  always  contain,  organized  material 
consists  almost  exclusively  of  carbonaceous  com- 
pounds." *  The  complexity  of  these  compounds  is 
especially  due  to  carbon.  Not  only  has  carbon  the 
large  combining  power  indicated,  its  atoms  combine 
"  among  themselves  to  an  almost  indefinite  ex- 
tent." "  The  carbon  atoms,  however,  not  only 
unite  with  each  other  in  large  numbers,  but  form 
groups  of  great  stability,  which,  in  organic  com- 
pounds take  the  place  of  elementary  radicals."  f 
A  group  of  six  carbon  atoms  may,  according  to  its 

*  New  Chemistry,  p.  292. 
f  New  Chemistry,  p.  302.' 


174  PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 

method  of  combination,  leave  open  14,  12,  10,  8,  6, 
4,  or  2  affinities.  The  complexity  and  variety  of 
organic  compounds  are  due  to  the  original  charac- 
teristics of  the  elements  that  take  part  in  them. 

These  organic  compounds  are  termed  higher  than 
the  simplest  inorganic  ones  into  which  they  are  con- 
stantly passing  by  decomposition.  The  language  is 
figurative,  finding  its  significance  in  the  fact,  that 
force  is  expended  in  dissolving  the  simple  com- 
pounds and  constructing  the  more  complex  ones. 
This  force  remains  as  available  force  or  energy  in 
the  organic  substance,  and  reappears  in  its  reactions. 
As  these  molecules  consume  force  in  their  construc- 
tion, and  yield  it  in  their  reactions,  they  are  said  to 
be  higher  than  the  stable  inorganic  compounds  into 
which  they  are  constantly  lapsing.  It  is  a  lift  in 
nature  to  form  them,  demanding  energy  ;  it  is  a 
fall  in  nature  to  decompose  them,  yielding  energy. 

The  forces  drawn  upon  in  this  construction  are 
those  contained  in  the  sun's  rays,  and  the  surfaces  at 
which  these  forces  become  efficient  for  their  work 
are  those  of  the  green  tissue  of  plants,  more  particu- 
larly of  leaves.  "  It  is  a  very  wonderful  thing  that 
those  so-called  chemical  radiations  from  the  sun 
which  are  most  effective  in  producing  the  decompo- 
sition of  carbonic  acid  by  the  leaves  of  the  plant  are 
the  very  rays  which  are  most  absorbed  by  the  green 
tissue."  * 

The  force  expended  in  the  leaf  in  the  decomposi- 
tion of  carbonic  acid  gas  and  water,  and  the  conver- 
sion of  the  material  so  provided  into  starch,  may  be 
better    appreciated    if    we    remember,    "  that    the 

*  Recent  Advances  in  Physical  Science,  p.  149. 


ORGANIC    COMPOUNDS.  1^5 

amount  of  energy  required  to  decompose  a  pound 
of  water  into  its  constituent  gases  would  be  ade- 
quate to  raise  a  weight  of  5,314,200  pounds  one  foot 
high."  *  A  cubic  foot  of  cannel-coal,  whose  store- 
house of  energy  has  been  filled  by  sifting  out  the 
forces  of  sun-light  through  green  tissue,  "  contains 
sufficient  energy,  if  wholly  utilized,  to  raise  732,000,- 
000  pounds  one  foot."  f 

Animal  life  depends  on  vegetable  life  for  those 
organic  compounds,  stored  with  energy,  which  are 
its  food.  Animal  life  has  occasion  to  shift  these 
compounds — metastasis — from  form  to  form  in  its 
own  service.  In  this  constructive  work  a  portion  of 
the  material  continuously  drops  from  the  higher  to 
the  lower  plane.  In  this  fall  it  yields  the  energy 
which  is  needful  for  the  transformations  within  the 
animal,  and  maintains  its  vital  heat.  Thus  the  ani- 
mal organization  acts  as  a  water-ram  to  the  forces 
which  flow  to  it  from  the  vegetable  kingdom  ;  it 
lets  slip  a  part  from  the  higher  level,  and  so  gains 
the  force  to  use  the  remainder  on  that  level  or  to 
carry  it  still  higher. 

In  this  grand  circulation  of  the  elements,  the 
simple  inorganic  compounds  lie  at  the  lowest  level. 
These,  by  the  vigor  of  the  sun's  rays  put  to  service 
in  the  green  tissue  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  are 
decomposed  and  reconstructed  at  the  higher  level 
of  organic  compounds.  In  dropping  thence  they 
yield  their  acquired  energy  in  the  service  of  animal 
life.  We  have  thus,  in  this  circuit  of  life,  what  we 
before  had   in   the  water-circulation   of    the    globe. 

*  New  Chemistry,  p.  99. 
\  New  Chemistry,  p.  206. 


176  PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 

The  sun  lifts  in  evaporation  the  reservoirs  of  snow 
and  rain,  and  these,  in  gentle  subdivision,  descend 
again  in  the  continuous  service  of  all  living  things. 

Carbonic  acid  gas  and  water  are  the  simple  com- 
pounds with  which  this  circuit  commences,  as  in  the 
leaves  of  the  bread-tree :  and  these  also  are  the 
simple  substances  with  which  it  closes,  as  in  the 
lungs  of  man.  Carbonic  acid  gas  and  vapor  steal 
back,  almost  imperceptibly,  after  each  organic  re- 
action into  the  grand  reservoir  of  the  atmosphere. 
Thus  the  tangible  organic  world  is  built  up  from 
the  relatively  intangible  gaseous  world,  and  so  par- 
takes in  the  ease,  subtlety  and  pervasive  presence  of 
its  constructive  processes,  in  the  mobility  of  these 
most  mobile  forms  of  matter. 

Not  only  does  the  vegetable  kingdom  thus  be- 
come the  antecedent  term  to  the  animal  kingdom, 
its  work-room  ;  the  animal  kingdom,  by  virtue  of 
these  changeable  compounds  passed  up  to  it  from 
beneath,  is  able  to  reach  a  versatility  of  forms, 
a  freedom  of  movement,  a  pervasive  force  of  life 
wholly  unknown  to  the  shrub  and  tree.  Organic 
compounds  are  in  relatively  unstable  equilibrium, 
especially  those  which  are  most  serviceable  as  food. 
They  are  colloid,  not  crystalloid,  in  form.  The 
slight  affinities  and  slight  coherence  of  their  atoms 
keep  them  trembling  on  the  point  of  dissolution. 
In  addition  to  this  colloid  form,  by  which  the  least 
stir  of  change  is  rapidly  diffused  through  the  per- 
meable mass,  animal  organisms  contain  a  very  large 
amount  of  water,  adding  to  the  mobility  of  their 
parts.     These  facts  unite  to  make  organic  material 


CIRCULATION    IN    THE    ANIMAL.  177 

wholly  pliant  under  the  plastic  power  of  life.  If  we 
could  fully  conceive  its  circuits,  there  is  nothing 
open  to  our  senses  so  wonderful  as  an  animal  organ- 
ism— for  instance,  the  human  body.  It  is  physical, 
yet  so  far  from  physics  ;  explicable,  yet  with  so 
many  incomprehensible  terms  ;  complex,  yet  so  con- 
current in  its  parts  in  a  way  most  direct  and  simple ; 
restful,  yet  each  instant  full  of  invisible  action  and 
a  life  that  never  wearies.  The  food,  through  pri- 
mary and  secondary  channels,  under  forces  the  most 
simple  and  forces  the  most  subtile  which  the  phy- 
sical world  offers,  finds  its  way  to  every  most  min- 
ute part  of  the  body  ;  it  there  passes  into  com- 
pounds of  great  variety,  and  yields  energy  for  the 
performance  of  functions  very  diverse  from  each 
other,  yet  most  intimately  united  in  their  results. 
The  processes  of  destruction  and  reconstruction  are 
coctaneous,  and  minister  to  each  other  in  constant 
reactions  through  the  entire  circuit,  the  gas  that 
passes  from  the  lungs  yielding  in  its  very  last  change 
one  more  unit  of  heat. 

In  the  animal,  food  is  quickly  converted  into  fluid, 
and  in  the  circulation  of  the  blood  carried  to  every 
part  of  the  body.  In  these  several  parts,  it  is  trans- 
formed into  a  great  variety  of  solids,  which,  in  turn, 
as  growth  proceeds,  lapse  once  more  as  waste  into 
the  blood,  or  pass  off  in  other  ways  as  fluids.  Thus 
an  unending  current  builds  up  and  takes  down  the 
body  of  the  animal  and  provides  alike  the  energy 
for  both  results. 

The  superintending  life,  as  an  invisible  presence, 
presides  over  all,  knits  together  the   parts  in  an  im- 


I7o  PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 

mediate  service,  and  bears  them  along  a  distinct  line 
of  growth  to  remote  ends.  Such  is  the  marvel  of 
the  human  body,  even  if  we  overlook  the  greater 
marvel  of  a  conscious  and  partially  independent  life 
working  in  it  and  through  it.  The  living  body  is 
thus  the  most  complete  revelation  of  visible  and  in- 
visible, palpable  and  impalpable  terms  in  perpetual 
reaction  for  immediate  and  remote  ends,  the  whole 
pervaded  by  a  supreme  spirit  to  whose  service  every 
function,  without  abrogation  of  its  own  law,  is  sub- 
mitted. 

It  may  also  be  fittingly  put  as  a  special  point  in 
this  unity  of  physical  forces  and  vegetable  and  animal 
life,  that  most  vegetable  products,  as  wood,  are  under 
ordinary  conditions  so  much  more  stable  than  most 
animal  products,  as  flesh  ;  and  that  the  energy  of 
fuel,  by  an  arrested  process  of  decomposition  and 
recomposition,  can  be  made  to  take  so  permanent 
and  serviceable  a  form  as  coal,  one  element  being 
held  back  from  a  simple  and  stable  combination. 
We  may  also  include  the  temperature  at  which  the 
reactions  take  place  in  the  animal,  and  the  complete 
control  of  the  plastic  power  over  them. 

A  unit}'  like  this  of  two  kingdoms,  or  rather,  all 
kingdoms,  a  preparation  like  this,  so  far-reaching  and 
so  complete  of  one  thing  for  another,  go  as  far  as  it 
is  possible  for  external  presentation  to  go  in  indicat- 
ing the  presence  of  a  thoughtful  purpose.  It  is 
somewhat  the  fashion  of  our  time  to  disparage  the 
position  of  man  in  creation,  and  to  discredit  any 
reference  of  things  to  his  wants.  But  we  are  able 
to  see  that   the   foundations  of  his  well-being  and 


THE    BODY    A5    AN    ENGINE.  1 79 

power,  looking  upon  man  simply  as  the  supreme 
animal  life,  were  laid  in  the  earliest  physical  forces, 
and  were  steadily  built  on  in  each  successive  stage 
of  development.  We  have  to  choose  between  re- 
garding results,  thoroughly  and  continuously  pro- 
vided for,  as  contemplated  in  this  concurrence  of 
causes,  or  regarding  the  most  complete  order  as  the 
accident  of  causes  united  with  no  reference  to  it. 
As  there  is  but  one  universe  and  one  line  of  evolu- 
tion, and  not  an  infinite  number  of  each,  this  last 
conclusion  has  no  color  under  the  law  of  chances. 
The  presumption  against  it  is  simply  immeasur- 
able. 

As  the  body  of  man  can  be  regarded  as  a  kind  of 
engine  in  which  food  is  burned,  it  is  interesting  to 
compare  it  with  other  engines  in  the  economy  of  its 
consumption.  "  We  have  not  yet  succeeded  in  ap- 
plying more  than  about  one-twentieth  of  the  energy 
stored  up  in  coal  to  mechanical  work."  *  A  steam- 
engine  is  thus  a  most  wasteful  machine.  "  Joule,  at 
a  very  early  period  of  his  investigations,  pointed 
out  that  not  only  does  an  animal  much  more  nearly 
resemble  in  its  functions  an  electro-magnetic  engine 
than  it  resembles  a  steam-engine,  but  he  also  point- 
ed out  that  it  is  a  much  more  efficient  engine — that 
is  to  say,  an  animal  for  the  same  amount  of  potential 
energy  of  food  or  fuel  supplied  to  it  gives  you  a 
larger  amount  converted  into  work  than  any  engine 
which  we  can  construct  physically."  f  We  shall  feel 
the  force  of  this  assertion  if  we  remember  the  inner 
organic  motion,  the  outer  muscular  motion,  and  the 

*  New  Chemistry,  p.  206, 

f  Recent  Advances  in  Physical  Science,  p.  150. 


I  So 


PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 


even  temperature — the  direct  occasion  of  much 
pleasurable  sensation — which  attend  on  animal  life 
as  in  man,  and  also  recall  the  small  amount  of  food, 
taken  at  somewhat  remote  intervals,  which  main- 
tains this  expenditure.  From  this  gross  amount 
is  also  to  be  deducted  those  crass  portions  which 
are  rejected  at  once,  yielding  no  energy  to  the  ani- 
mal mechanism. 

^  4.  The  extended  and  coherent  relations  of  one 
thing  with  another,  which,  to  the  human  mind,  con- 
stitute the  peculiar  force  of  the  world,  pervade  all 
animal  organisms.  They  are  full  of  very-  various 
and  very  observable  symmetries.  These  are  in- 
terior and  exterior.  The  vertebrae,  as  of  a  snake, 
ingenious  and  admirable  in  themselves,  are  modifi- 
cations of  one  pattern  according  to  the  position  of 
each.  This  correspondence,  with  bold  variety  in 
form  and  a  frequent  change  of  a  number,  character- 
izes a  grand  division  of  the  animal  kingdom.  A 
like  correspondence  of  bone  with  bone  in  office, 
position  and  form,  and  of  tissue  with  tissue  in  struc- 
ture and  office,  is  found  everywhere  in  animal  life. 
The  laws  which  pervade  the  constructive  process 
are  of  the  most  fundamental  order.  A  more  ob- 
vious example  is  the  circular  symmetry  of  lower 
forms  of  animal  life,  and  the  bilateral  symmetry  of 
higher  ones.  There  is  the  greatest  variety  in  each  of 
these  types,  nothing  remaining  firm  but  the  simple 
idea  of  the  appropriate  symmetry.  The  snail,  as 
it  drags  its  shell  behind  it,  exhibits  both  forms  of 
.merry.  Nothing  is  plainer  than  that  the  plastic 
power  of  life  is  always  working  under  an  idea  with 


SYMxMETRY.  l8l 

both  general  and  specific  bearings,  as  much  so  as 
an  architect  who  builds  a  peculiar  house  under  a 
given  style  and  according  to  a  national  method. 

Even  so  secondary  an  element  as  color  is,  in  its 
arrangement,  as  in  the  marking  of  fishes,  insects  and 
birds,  often  conformed  to  complicated  and  beauti- 
fully symmetrical  patterns.  The  great  variety  in 
this  symmetry,  and  the  occasional  departure  from  it, 
both  in  form  and  in  color,  show  that  it  is  no  neces- 
sity of  the  physical  forces  involved  ;  nor  does  it,  in 
many  of  its  details,  seem  to  be  essential  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  life  it  accompanies.  That  this 
symmetry  is  not  the  product  of  any  mechanical 
equilibrium  of  forces  is  also  shown  by  the  fact,  that 
the  inner  symmetry,  as  in  man,  is  by  no  means  as 
complete  as  the  outer  symmetry.  While  the  one  is 
absolute,  imposing  perfect  order,  the  other  easily 
gives  way  to  any  convenience  in  the  forms  or  func- 
tions of  organs. 

The  purposes,  both  of  science  and  beauty,  are 
admirably  combined  in  this  symmetry  and  in  the 
departures  from  it.  The  skeleton  well  represents 
the  fundamental  oneness  and  the  multiform  rela- 
tions of  the  prevalent  idea ;  the  position  of  interior 
organs  discloses  the  freedom  and  constructive  force 
of  the  plastic  power ;  the  detailed  and  exact  cor- 
respondences of  the  superficial  finish  reveal  the 
force  of  the  intellectual  idea  of  symmetry. 

It  does  not  suffice  to  say  that  this  beauty  is  inci- 
dent to  service,  and  that  the  service  is  the  result  of 
natural  selection,  for  we  do  not  find  those  multitu- 
dinous unsymmetrical  productions  which  the  theory 


182 


PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 


implies,  and  which  have  been  crowded  out  by  the 
mere  push  of  symmetry  as  an  element  in  physical 
power.  Life  invariably  shows,  even  in  its  rare  gro- 
tesque forms,  a  tendency  to  symmetry,  and  in  the 
vast  majority  of  cases  a  very  complete  tendency. 

Closely  akin  to  this  law  of  symmetry,  but  some- 
what more  than  it,  is  the  often  marvelous  beauty 
of  the  animal  kingdom.  While  the  basis  of  that 
beauty  is  the  harmony  of  structure  involved  in 
symmetry,  it  is  aided  by  many  secondary  things. 
It  is  not  simply  the  correspondence  of  the  two 
halves  of  the  body  that  makes  man  beautiful,  but 
what  each  half  is  in  the  more  delicate  details  of 
form  and  texture.  The  human  hand,  in  its  pro- 
portions, pliability,  fineness  of  structure  and  fulness 
of  life,  is  a  most  exquisite  product  to  be  shaped  in 
crass  matter.  The  human  face — furnished  with  its 
vigorous  senses  reaching  to  the  stars,  in  turn  look- 
ing out  of  the  depths  of  space  and  the  silence  of 
eternity  ;  its  features,  the  seat  of  versatile  thought, 
the  medium  through  which  the  soul  is  flashing  all 
the  changeable  lights  of  emotion  ;  the  voice,  mean- 
while, uttering  like  a  chorus  in  articulate  sound  the 
burden  of  this  passion, — is  that  hand-breadth  of  sur- 
face in  which  two  worlds  touch  each  other,  and 
blend  at  the  zenith  of  beauty. 

There  has  been  an  effort  to  account  for  this  per- 
fect finish  in  form  and  color  of  the  animal  kingdom 
by  sexual  selection.  The  cause  is  very  much  too 
narrow.  Sexual  selection,  taken  by  itself,  is  worthy 
of  consideration  ;  but  as  offering  an  explanation  of 
the   beauty   of    living  things,   it    falls    ridiculously 


INHERITANCE.  183 

short  of  its  task.  The  theory  seems  to  forget  that 
there  is  the  same  beauty  in  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
the  same  beauty  in  lower  as  in  higher  animals,  the 
same  beauty  in  the  inner  surfaces  of  shells  as  in 
their  outer  forms.  It  seems  to  forget  that  there  is 
really  no  proof  that  even  in  the  higher  forms  of 
life  there  is  present  a  perception  of  beauty,  or  any 
approach  to  that  nice  criticism  of  details  out  of 
which  alone  progress  could  come.  If  we  recognize 
the  simple  fact,  that  beauty  must  usually  be  asso- 
ciated with  vigorous  lustful  forces — since  it  like 
these  forces  indicates  the  predominance  of  life — we 
shall  understand  that  even  in  those  comparatively 
few  cases  in  which  sexual  selection  seems  to  be  in- 
fluenced by  beauty,  it  is  really  proceeding  on  a  plane 
of  much  lower  and  more  physical  endowments. 
The  mate  is  not  selected  under  the  critical  eye  of 
taste,  but  under  the  eager,  pushing  appetites,  that  go 
with  life,  and  are  called  out  by  life. 

The  beauty  of  the  animal  kingdom  simply  adds 
itself  to  that  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  and  the  two 
supplement  that  of  the  inorganic  world.  Thus  all 
things  stand  together,  the  walls,  columns  and  vault- 
ing of  a  matchless  temple. 

We  shall  mention  but  one  other  special  relation, 
that  of  animal  life — indeed  of  all  life — to  man.  We 
shall  not  enter  into  the  general  relation  of  extended 
service;  this  service  is  too  common  and  constant, 
too  much  a  matter  of  course,  to  admit  easily  of  a 
fresh  impression  ;  we  shall  direct  attention  simply  to 
the  laws  of  heredity,  and  the  way  in  which  they 
put  the  various  forms  of  life  at  the  disposal  of  man. 


1 84  PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 

The  law  of  variation  enables  him  to  improve  those 
forms  in  which  he  is  more  immediately  interested, 
while  the  law  of  inheritance  enables  him  to  hold 
fast  any  gains  he  may  have  made. 

Whether  it  be  true — as  some  seem  to  think  with 
much  reason  * — that  the  plants  and  animals,  which 
are  more  directly  valuable  to  man,  are  peculiarly 
variable  ;  or  whether  it  be  true,  that  variability  is  a 
generally  and  evenly  diffused  tendency,  and  has 
simply  been  developed  more  actively  in  domestic 
plants  and  animals,  it  is  an  obvious  fact,  that  the 
mastery  of  man  over  inferior  life  is  greatly  enlarged 
by  these  laws,  and  that  it  turns  on  a  nice  balance 
between  the  two.  More  ready  variation  would  be 
attended  by  a  corresponding  liability  to  the  loss  of 
gains ;  less  ready  variation  with  more  difficulty  in 
making  those  gains.  Life  yields  itself  to  the  skillful 
touch  of  man,  as  good  stone  to  his  chisel.  It  is 
neither  too  obdurate  to  receive  his  thought,  nor  too 
pliant  to  retain  it.  The  result  is  that  garden,  flower- 
garden,  orchard,  stock-yard  and  stall  are  filled  with 
every  form  of  life  that  is  needed  either  to  minister 
to  the  necessities  or  pleasures  of  man,  and  that  they 
all  yield  to  his  progressive  desires  in  a  wonderful 
way.  At  no  point  is  it  more  manifest  that  man  is 
the  master  of  the  world,  the  heir  of  all  its  gifts, 
and  waiting  to  be  made  richer  by  each  new  evolu- 
tion. 

When  we  observe  the  general  and  extended  varia- 
tion of  those  plants  and  animals  that  directly  minis- 
ter to  man, — a  variation  however,  not  universal  as 
shown    by  the   guinea-fowl,  the   peacock,  the   goat, 

*  Natural  Theology,  Ciiaubourne,  p.  164. 


SPECIAL    EXAMPLES.  I  85 

the  ass — when  we  further  observe  that  this  variation 
is  toward  man  and  initiated  by  man,  we  have  occa- 
sion to  acknowledge  either  a  specific  fact  or  a  gen- 
eral fact  of  great  significance  in  reference  to  his 
present,  and  still  more  in  reference  to  his  future, 
wants. 

§  5.  Having  reviewed  some  of  the  primary  rela- 
tions of  animal  life,  it  is  not  necessary  to  our  argu- 
ment to  dwell  on  its  special  forms  or  innumerable 
adaptations.  These  serve  their  purpose  only  as 
parts  of  one  great  picture,  only  as  the  admirable 
details  of  a  work  remarkable  for  its  systematic  form. 
This  portion  of  natural  theology  can  hardly  be  more 
skillfully  presented  than  it  has  already  been  present- 
ed in  the  work  of  Paley.  The  need  of  drawing  at- 
tention to  these  special  relations  of  life  is  passing 
away.  Many  works  of  science  have  shown  the 
whole  kingdom  of  life  to  be  full  of  adaptations — 
often  in  a  peculiar  and  curious  way — to  the  wants 
of  living  things.  The  argument  for  the  being  of 
God  is  not  thought  to  fail  because  of  the  narrow- 
ness of  these,  its  premises,  but  because,  in  their  ac- 
knowledged multiplicity,  they  are  taken  up  under 
general  laws,  themselves  referred  to  physical  forces. 
The  most  apt  descriptions  of  special  forms  of  life 
would  not  now  materially  aid  the  argument  we  have 
in  hand.  The  most  they  can  do  is  to  deepen  the 
popular  impression.  We  shall  satisfy  ourselves  with 
a  single  illustration. 

The  camel  is  an  animal  of  especial  interest  to 
man,  not  merely  because  of  its  remarkable  adapta- 
tion to  peculiar  conditions  of  life,  but  because  this 


1 86  PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 

adjustment  fits  it  to  render  a  very  important  and 
exceptional  service  to  man,  because  its  history  is 
so  closely  associated  with  human  life  in  the  oldest 
historical  portions  of  the  globe,  and  because  it  has 
not  been  found  wild  within  the  memory  of  man, 
but  has  been  wholly  taken  up  in  his  labors.  The 
deserts  of  Northern  Africa  and  Eastern  Asia,  so 
long  traversed  by  the  migrations,  armies  and  com- 
merce of  the  oldest  historical  races,  have  given  a 
demand  for  a  form  of  animal  life  admirably  met  by 
the  camel,  "  the  ship  of  the  desert."  The  history 
of  the  race  could  hardly  have  been  what  it  is  with- 
out this  adjunct. 

Though  the  camels  employed  in  carriage  are  com- 
paratively slow,  the  dromedary,  a  lighter  and  more 
carefully  bred  variety,  obtains  the  speed  of  nine  or 
ten  miles  an  hour.  The  camel  thus  combines  both 
branches  of  work,  the  heavy  and  the  light. * 

(i)  The  most  remarkable  endowment  of  the  ani- 
mal, fitting  it  to  its  peculiar  life,  is  its  power  to 
take  into  the  stomach  a  supply  of  water  in  an- 
ticipation of  future  want.  This  amount  is  some- 
times as  great  as  twenty  gallons.  The  water  re- 
mains in  the  stomach  for  a  time  unaltered,  and  is 
passed  into  the  system  as  called  for  by  the  automa- 
tic sensibilities.  There  is  disagreement  of  opinion 
as  to  the  form  of  the  physiological  fact,  but  not  as 
to  the  unusual  endurance.  The  camel  can  also  scent 
water  at  the  distance  of  a  mile. 

(2)  The  foot  of  the  camel  is  as  directly  shaped 
to  a  desert  soil  as  a  snow-shoe  to  snow. 

*  Bible  Animals.  Dissertations  of  Sir  Charles  Bell,  supple- 
mentary to  Natural  Theology. 


CAMEL.  I87 

"  The  mixed  stones  and  sand  of  the  desert  would 
ruin  the  foot  of  almost  any  animal,  and  it  is  neces- 
sary that  the  animal  should  be  furnished  with  a  foot 
that  cannot  be  split  by  heat,  like  the  foot  of  a  horse, 
that  is  broad  enough  to  prevent  the  creature  from 
sinking  into  the  sand,  and  is  tough  enough  to  with- 
stand the  action  of  the  rough  and  burning  soil. 
Such  a  foot  does  the  camel  possess.  It  consists  of 
two  large  toes,  resting  upon  a  hard  elastic  cushion, 
with  a  thick,  heavy  sole."  *  This  foot  makes  a  sand- 
shoe.  It  spreads  as  the  pressure  comes  on  it ;  it 
contracts  and  easily  sheds  the  sand  as  the  weight  is 
removed.  Its  elasticity  preserves  it  from  the  bruises 
of  blows  so  severe  against  the  stones  lying  loose 
and  hidden  in  the  sand. 

(3)  The  mouth  of  the  camel  is  so  tough  and  its 
digestion  of  so  vigorous  a  character,  that  it  can 
find  food  in  the  driest  and  most  thorny  plants. 
"  It  feeds  abundantly  on  the  thorn-bushes  which 
grow  so  plentifully  in  that  part  of  the  world,  and 
though  the  thorns  are  an  inch  or  two  in  length, 
very  strong  and  as  sharp  as  needles,  the  hard,  horny 
palate  of  the  animal  enables  it  to  devour  them 
with  perfect  ease.  It  manages  to  browse  as  it  goes 
along,  bending  its  long  neck  to  the  ground  and 
cropping  the  scanty  herbage  without  a  pause. 
Camels  have  been  known  to  travel  for  twenty  suc- 
cessive days,  passing  over  some  eight  hundred 
miles  of  ground  without  receiving  any  food  except 
that  which  they  gathered  for  themselves  by  the 
way.  y 

*  Bible  Animals,  p.  239. 
f  Ibid,  p.  23S. 


1 88  PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    ANIMAL    KINGDOM. 

(4)  It  has  a  provision  round  the  eye  for  ridding 
it  of  particles  of  dust,  and  the  power  of  closing  its 
nostrils  against  the  clouds  of  sand  which  constitute 
the  most  urgent  annoyance  and  the  most  threaten- 
ing dangers  of  the  desert.* 

(5)  So  universally  valuable  is  the  camel  that  even 
its  dung  is  important  to  its  owners.  "  Owing  to 
the  substances  on  which  the  animal  feeds  it  con- 
sists of  little  but  macerated  fragments  of  aromatic 
shrubs.  It  is  largely  employed  for  fuel,  and  the 
desert  couriers  use  nothing  else."-)* 

These  are  some  of  the  direct  provisions  by  which 
the  camel,  among  animals,  is  fitted  for  so  difficult 
and  needful  a  service  as  to  make  its  possession  a 
necessity  to  the  intercourse  of  extended  portions  of 
the  globe.  To  these  unusual  utilities  are  added  the 
full  circle  of  secondary  ones,  as  the  value  of  its  flesh 
for  food,  its  skin  for  leather,  and  its  hair  for  brushes 
and  thread,  for  coarse  and  for  fine  fabrics.  What- 
ever influence  men  may  have  had  in  completing 
this  unusual  combination  of  endowments,  this  very 
influence  is  a  part  of  the  marvel,  and  found  its  first 
and  essential  term  in  a  primitive  constitution  al- 
ready very  peculiar.  The  extreme  and  correlated 
development  of  these  several  qualities  in  the  camel, 
separating  it  so  widely  from  other  animals,  puts  it 
beyond  the  explanation  of  natural  selection.  Not 
only  is  the  concurrence  of  such  unusual  qualities  in 
the  last  degree  improbable  as  a  chance  effect,  there 
would  be  no  sufficient  occasion  for  this  growth  in 
the  life  of  a  wild  animal.     The   camel,  as  a  species, 

*  Dissertations  of  Sir  Charles  Bell,  vol.   iv.,  p.  275. 
f  Bible  Animals,  p.  241. 


CAMEL.  I89 

would  have  escaped  the  pressure  of  surrounding 
life  long  before  so  far  off  a  point  of  advantage  had 
been  gained.  The  pressure  within  the  species  could 
hardly  have  been  so  extreme  in  its  native  state  as  it 
became  when  the  animal  was  burdened  with  a  labor 
quite  beyond  that  of  providing  for  its  own  life.  If 
the  species,  by  a  pressure  within  itself,  was  pushed 
continuously  along  this  protracted  path  of  devel- 
opment, the  fact  would  imply  a  series  of  catas- 
trophies  of  indefinite  number,  which  only  the  best 
endowed  animals  were  able  to  survive. 

If  we  consider  the  hardness  of  the  conditions  of 
life  which  fall  to  the  camel,  its  dreary  surroundings, 
and  its  severe  menial  service,  we  shall  easily  accept 
the  peculiarly  homely  form  of  life  which  it  pre- 
sents. It  would  be  unkind  to  ask  the  donkey,  as 
he  crops  the  thistles  of  a  common,  or  the  camel,  as 
he  browses  on  the  thorns  of  a  desert,  to  be  a  cheerful 
and  beautiful  beast.  The  dolorous  bray  of  the  one 
and  the  querulous  complainings  of  the  other  are 
not  unsuited  for  the  hard  and  sordid  life  they  lead. 
That  animal  is  unfortunate  which  is  laden  with  the 
sins  of  the  lowest  of  men. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PROOF    OF    THE  BEING    OF    GOD  FOUND    IN    THE  RATIONAL 
KINGDOM. 

§  I.  The  world  is  referred  to  God  as  its  author 
because  of  the  rational  relations  it  contains.  That 
relations  so  numerous  and  so  extendedly  concurrent 
should  have  arisen  without  reason  seems  to  be  an 
assertion  in  the  denial  of  the  distinction  between 
the  rational  and  irrational,  between  things  ordered 
by  thought  and  those  left  to  accident.  It  is  not 
easy  to  see  how  reason  could  have  framed  a  more 
orderly  product  than  this,  which  atheism  refers  to 
irrational  causes  and  combinations.  As  we  approach 
man,  the  one  well-known  typical  term  in  the  ra- 
tional kingdom,  the  proof  for  the  being  of  God 
ought  to  increase  in  clearness.  If  the  world  is  con- 
structed under  a  purpose,  a  large  part  of  that  pur- 
pose must  be  found  in  the  relation  of  the  world  to 
man.  His  endowments  and  his  discipline,  therefore, 
should  be  especially  explanatory  of  the  make-up  of 
things. 

While  it  is  unwise,  when  we  wish  to  offer  an 
argument  in  the  form  most  favorable  for  general  ac- 
ceptance, to  claim  more  ground  than  is  necessary 
for  the   superstructure,  it  is  equally  unwise,   when 

190 


CONDITIONS    OF    THE    ARGUMENT.  I9I 

we  wish  to  so  build  our  proof  that  it  shall  stand,  to 
claim  less  ground  than  the  strength  of  the  edifice 
requires.  The  present  scepticism  of  the  world  is 
the  logical  outcome  of  Empirical  Philosophy  ;  it 
cannot  be  fully  met  on  any  theory  of  the  human 
mind  short  of  that  involved  in  Intuitive  Philosophy. 
Undesirable,  then,  as  it  may  seem  to  be,  to  interlock 
the  proof  of  first  truths  in  religion  with  our  phil- 
osophy, the  result  is  unavoidable.  Doubt,  difficulty, 
sweeping  denial  have  arisen  from  one  style  of  phil- 
osophy, and  are  all  in  due  order  contained  in  it, 
when  its  premises  are  coherently  unfolded.  We 
must,  therefore,  state  the  fact  clearly,  and  indicate 
the  points  at  which  the  divergence  arises.  If  the 
mind  is  in  some  fashion  like  a  blank  sheet  of  paper, 
as  one  great  founder  of  the  Empirical  Philosophy 
would  have  it  to  be  ;  if  it  is  not  as  independently 
endowed  in  reference  to  the  things  about  it  as  hy- 
drogen to  oxygen  in  the  formation  of  water,  then,  of 
course,  spiritual  phenomena,  as  the  mere  shadows  of 
physical  ones,  have  little  or  nothing  to  add  to  them. 
They  cannot  help  the  argument  by  which  we  ap- 
proach the  Supreme  Reason,  the  author  of  all 
things.  Reason,  as  we  know  it,  is  controlled  by 
things  rather  than  the  controller  of  things.  More 
than  this,  since  the  reason  of  man  is  the  product  of 
physical  facts,  since  the  most  complex  relations  and 
the  most  perfect  order  are  in  these  facts  prior  to  his 
action,  and  the  additional  order  of  which  he  is  the 
medium,  is  but  an  extension  of  this  antecedent  order, 
we  have  no  basis  for  the  conclusion  that  intelligent, 
coherent  relations  are  the  peculiar  product  of  mind. 


I92       PROOF    FOUND    IN     THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

We  start,  therefore,  our  proof  in  this  field  of 
reason  with  the  declaration  of  reason  as  itself  a  pe- 
culiar and  primitive  power.  The  proofs  of  the  asser- 
tion are  psychological,  and  while  they  must  be  sought 
in  psychology,  they  are  there,  as  we  believe,  very 
abundant.  In  a  very  important  sense,  reason,  the 
reason  of  man,  is  not  natural  but  supernatural. 
In  nature  we  include  all  elements  and  forces  in 
themselves  fixed,  and  combined  under  fixed  laws ; 
in  the  supernatural  we  include  all  powers  modifiable 
within  themselves,  and  so  capable  of  modifying 
physical  forces.  The  two  fields  are  not  different  in 
being  the  one  subject  to  law  and  the  other  not,  but 
in  the  character  of  the  laws  that  prevail  in  them, 
and  in  the  character  of  the  agencies  that  come 
under  those  laws.  Law,  unfortunately,  has  acquired 
in  this  connection  a  meaning  which  is  interpreted 
by  physical  dependencies.  Powers  are  spiritual, 
they  are  without  fixed  local  centres  of  action,  their 
action  may  be  withheld  or  it  may  be  put  forth  in 
one  or  other  of  various  ways.  Forces  are  physical, 
they  have  determinate  centres  and  lines  and 
methods  of  action.  There  is  at  any  one  time 
and  place  but  one  possible  expression  to  them. 
The  laws  of  mind  involve  reasons ;  in  reference  to 
thought  we  term  these  reasons  premises,  in  refer- 
ence to  action,  motives.  The  laws  of  matter  involve 
causation,  an  absolute  equality  of  causes  and  effects, 
the  first  as  forces  and  the  second  as  their  expression. 

A  cause  and  a  reason  are  not  the  same,  and  can 
not  be  confounded  without  the  utmost  confusion. 
Reasons  can  be  insufficient  and  yet   the  conclusion 


CAUSES    AND    REASONS.  I93 

may  be  drawn,  or  the  action  put  forth.  Causes  can 
never  be  inadequate  to  the  effects  which  depend  on 
them.  If  reasons  and  causes  were  identical,  the 
distinction  between  truth  and  falsehood  would  dis- 
appear, it  would  be  swallowed  up  in  the  division  of 
real  and  unreal  applicable  to  things  and  events. 
Whatever  is  in  the  physical  world  has  a  sufficient 
cause,  whatever  is  not  has  not  a  sufficient  cause. 
The  only  distinction  pertinent  here,  therefore,  is 
that  of  being  and  not  being.  The  same,  on  the 
above  supposition,  would  be  true  of  mind.  Every 
conclusion  and  every  action  would  have  a  sufficient 
cause,  and  every  conclusion  not  drawn  and  every 
action  not  done,  would  fail  simply  because  there  was 
no  adequate  ground.  This  distinction  between  the 
true  and  untrue  is  the  distinction  not  only  of  all 
morality  but  of  all  thought,  and  its  denial  is,  there- 
fore, forbidden  by  the  very  first  canon  of  reason, 
that  no  action  shall  be  self-contradictory.  This 
affirmation  of  the  identity  of  causes  and  reasons  is 
self-destructive,  since  it  affirms  one  thing  to  be  true, 
and  in  the  very  act  denies  the  distinction  on  which 
the  true  and  the  untrue  rest. 

We  affirm,  therefore,  a  radical  diversity  between 
physical  law  and  logical  law,  between  causes  and 
reasons,  between  forces  and  motives.  It  will  be 
seen  that  this  distinction,  so  fundamental  in  the 
facts  of  the  world,  involves  the  division,  so  sharply 
discussed,  between  the  natural  and  the  super- 
natural. While  the  controversy  has  been  waged 
most  warmly  in  connection  with  miracles  and  an- 
swers to  prayer,  these  are,  after  all,  secondary  ques- 


194       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOxM. 

tions,  and  must  share  the  fortunes  of  the  more 
profound  and  primary  inquiry,  whether  there  are 
two  types  of  action  in  the  Universe.  If  there  is 
but  one  type,  and  that  the  physical  one,  then  mira- 
cles must  of  course  give  way.  Nor  would  the  fact, 
occurring  in  this  form,  demand  a  moment's  anxiety, 
since  previously  our  own  personality  must  have  suc- 
cumbed in  all  its  peculiar  elements  of  power.  It 
should  also  be  observed  that  charges  of  materialism 
and  defences  against  them,  are  made  on  secondary 
grounds.  There  are  two  positions  involved  in  ma- 
terialism, the  affirmation  that  mental  powers  are  a 
phase  of  physical  properties,  and  that  the  laws 
which  govern  the  two  sets  of  phenomena  are  the 
same  in  characteristics.  The  charge  is  more  usually 
brought  and  the  defence  set  up  under  the  first 
specification.  But  this  specification  has  its  chief 
significance  in  its  relation  to  the  second.  What- 
ever, therefore,  Spencer  and  others  may  affirm  or 
deny  about  the  inapproachable  point  of  the  very 
essence  of  mind  and  matter,  is  of  little  moment 
compared  with  the  very  practical  and  pressing  affir- 
mation of  one  causal  law  for  the  two  contiguous 
fields.  If  mental  laws  can  all  be  expounded  in 
terms  of  matter  and  motion,  not  by  a  dexterously 
sustained  figure,  but  in  exact  description,  the  con- 
troversy, in  its  most  important  bearings,  is  closed, 
and  mind  sinks  hopelessly  to  the  level  of  the  forces 
which  enclose  it  and  flow  through  it.  We  start, 
then,  our  present  proof  with  the  distinct  assertion 
that  reason  and  purely  rational  action  have  their 
own  laws,  other  than  the  laws  of  forces,  and  that, 


UNION    OF     PHYSICAL    AND    ORGANIC    FORCES.       IQ5 

in  reference  to  these  laws  of  nature,  they  are  super- 
natural, being  controlled  by  reason  and  not  by 
causes. 

§  2.  Under  this  principle,  or  assertion  or  assump- 
tion,— if  any  choose  to  call  it  so — whose  proof  is  re- 
mitted to  psychology,  we  start  our  line  of  thought, 
for  this  is  the  narrowest  foundation  on  which  the 
argument  can  be  safely  built.  We  draw  attention 
first  to  the  fact  that  there  has  been  a  protracted 
evolution  of  physical  forces,  by  which  they  have 
been  steadily  built  up  in  subtle  organic  structures, 
subject  to  the  uses  of  spiritual  powers.  These  struc- 
tures, by  a  series  of  close  connections  extending 
over  a  great  breadth  of  surface  and  deep  into  the 
frame-work  of  things,  are  closely  united  below  with 
all  physical  forces,  while  above  they  yield  in  an  in- 
scrutable way  to  the  impulses  of  life,  and  later  to 
the  indications  of  mind.  The  spiritual  powers, 
most  fully  expressed  in  the  mind  of  man,  thus  find 
their  way,  through  the  mediation  of  organic  forces, 
among  physical  forces,  and  the  two  kingdoms  are 
woven  into  each  other  so  deftly  that  it  is  impossible 
to  tell  exactly  how  the  one  web  ends  and  the  other 
begins.  Whatever  speculative  difficulty  there  may 
be  in  the  union  of  the  two  sets  of  laws,  they  actu- 
ally unite  with  each  other  with  the  utmost  ease,  and 
without  the  loss  on  the  part  of  either  of  its  distinc- 
tive characteristics.  Reasons  in  the  mind  become 
causes  in  the  body,  and  causes  in  the  body,  reasons 
in  the  mind.  Physical  forces,  working  through  the 
comparatively  perfect  nervous  system  of  man,  on 
whose  construction  so  many  ages  have  been  expend- 


I96       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

ed,  mount  very  high,  and  yet  come  to  a  limit  before 
they  reach  the  very  centres  of  thought  or  of  rational 
action.  On  the  other  hand,  spiritual  powers  descend 
in  their  influence  far  down  among  physical  forces, 
but  they  do  not  take  on  in  their  passage  the  condi- 
tion of  the  agents  with  which  they  are  dealing. 
They  insert  in  an  inscrutable  way  their  own  inscru- 
table terms,  and  modify  results  with  no  suspension 
of  causes.  The  intermediate  ground  in  which  the 
spiritual  powers  keep  company  with  the  physical 
forces  is  organic  structure  in  its  highest  order.  Be- 
yond this  structure  causes  have  unrestrained  action. 
The  mind  touches  these  facts  by  a  distinct  insertion 
of  new  causes.  In  the  living  organism  itself  mind 
has  the  power  of  giving  new  conditions,  as  if  a  ra- 
tional looker-on  could  tilt  the  plain  on  which  streams 
were  flowing. 

If  we  direct  attention  to  the  appearance,  one  by 
one,  of  the  constituents  of  life,  ultimately  to  be 
made  the  permeable  medium  of  rational  action, 
then  consciousness,  or  the  first  fact  in  consciousness, 
is  the  lowest  range  of  that  rational  movement,  and 
marks  the  depth  of  its  descent,  though  many  or- 
ganic processes  far  below  consciousness  are  influ- 
enced by  conscious  activity.  These,  in  turn,  carry 
the  wave  of  motion  far  and  wide  into  the  phys- 
ical world.  We  wish  to  impress  on  the  mind  the 
long  constructive  work  by  which  these  two  great 
kingdoms,  the  physical  and  spiritual,  are  made  to 
skirt  each  other,  and  are  woven  into  each  other  with 
perpetual  interplay  along  their  entire  margin.  We 
shall  thus  see  the  way  in  which  the  natural  has  been 


ORGANIC     ACTION.  IO,7 

built  up,  each  more  crass  form  giving  place  to  one 
more  mobile,  till  it  has  become  the  fitting  founda- 
tion of  the  supernatural,  the  one  borrowing  its  sig- 
nificance from  the  other,  as  the  pedestal  and  the 
statue,  or  the  light  and  the  eye. 

The  external  development  of  automatic  action  by 
nervous  stimuli  is  the  typical  fact  of  the  simply  ani- 
mal kingdom.  The  nervous  system,  from  the  most 
rudimentary  form,  is  broadened,  varied  and  com- 
pacted in  service,  till  we  have  reached  a  vast  variety 
of  combinations  wonderfully  complicated,  precise 
and  harmonious  in  their  structure.  The  palpable 
and  obscure  actions  that  go  on  in  the  human  body, 
concurrent  in  the  admirable  result  by  virtue  of  cor- 
related nervous  stimuli,  are  quite  beyond  analysis. 

It  is  the  primary  purpose  of  the  nervous  system 
to  receive  stimuli  of  a  great  variety  of  orders,  and 
to  convert  them  into  muscular  movement,  diffused 
and  harmonized  under  the  passing  and  permanent 
exigencies  of  the  living  body.  All  other  offices  are 
grafted  on  this  office.  When  these  stimuli  and  these 
actions — accompanied  as  they  are  every  instant  by 
a  retinue  of  chemical,  thermal,  capillary  and  more 
obscure  physical  forces — pertain  to  the  interior 
economy  of  the  body,  they  constitute  organic  life ; 
when  they  pertain  to  surface-senses  and  interior  im- 
pressions, calling  out  action  toward  the  environment 
in  its  conditions  of  well-being,  they  constitute  in- 
stinctive life.  While  the  interior  organic  economy 
of  the  living  animal  is  automatic  under  appropriate 
stimuli,  so  also  is  a  large  share  of  its  movements  in 
the  adjustment  of  itself  or  of  the  group  to  which  it 


I98        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

belongs,  due  to  external  circumstances.  These  two, 
organic  action  and  instinctive  action,  inner  and  outer 
correlation  under  direct  stimuli,  cover  most  of  the 
wonderful  industries  of  the  phalansteries  of  insects. 
That  these  forms  of  life  are  chiefly  below  the  range 
of  consciousness  is  apparent  when  we  consider  (1)  the 
fixedness  of  the  forms  involved  in  them  ;  (2)  the  com- 
paratively independent  yet  fitly  combined  activity 
of  the  several  members  of  the  community  ;  (3)  the 
slight  sympathy  and  recognition  between  individu- 
als; (4)  the  direct  association  of  the  form  of  the  ac- 
tivity with  physical  organs  fitted  to  it,  as  the  spin- 
ning of  spiders  with  spinnerets,  the  burden  of  bees 
with  their  baskets,  the  cutting  and  sawing  of  ants 
with  their  mandibles,  their  cleansing  and  toilet  with 
tarsal  combs,  their  battles  with  the  secretion  of 
poison,  their  various  labors  with  the  supply  of  a 
glutinous  fluid  ;  (5)  and  the  way  in  which  the  com- 
mon life  is  dependent  on  diverse  physical  develop- 
ments in  those  who  constitute  it,  as  of  queen-bees, 
workers  and  drones,  male  and  female  ants,  and  major 
and  minor  workers.  The  community  thus  presents 
collectively  a  modified  form  of  organic  combination, 
almost  as  much  so  as  a  family  of  coral  polyps. 

An  immense  variety  of  self-sustained  lives  being 
reached  by  these  automatic  responses  of  a  nervous 
system  developed  into  many  forms,  there  are  pres- 
ent the  needed  conditions  for  consciousness  as  a 
distinct  and  additive  element.  When  stimuli  are 
accompanied  by  sensations,  these,  treasured  by  mem- 
ory, are  grouped  in  many  instructive  ways  accord- 
ing to  the  experience  of  each  species  and  each  indi- 


RATIONAL    LIFE.  I99 

vidual.  The  uniformity  of  instinctive  development 
is  thus  broken  up,  and  many  new  relations  taken  in 
that  are  too  changeable  for  so  general  a  law.  By 
this  step  of  evolution  the  exceptional  physical  en- 
dowments of  the  animal  are  reduced,  while  the 
flexibility  of  its  adaptation  to  variable  conditions  is 
increased.  Higher  animals,  as  the  wolf  and  fox, 
have  physical  organs  less  exactly  fitted  to  a  specific 
service  than  are  the  wax-pockets  of  a  bee,  but  by 
the  continuous  growth  of  experience  in  the  indi- 
vidual and  in  successive  generations,  they  have  the 
grounds  of  a  much  more  varied  life. 

On  this  basis  of  life,  divided  between  stimuli  and 
sensations  and  shaped  into  consistency  under  the 
two,  is  built  rational  life.  The  grand  distinction  is 
that  the  facts  of  consciousness  are  pervaded  in  ra- 
tional life  by  rational  vision.  These  intrinsic  depen- 
dencies are  seen,  and  they  are  united  within  and 
beyond  the  range  of  experience  in  their  logical  and 
their  constructive  relations.  Vision  follows  light, 
and  the  possibilities  of  things  are  disclosed.  This 
life,  in  turn,  while  it  rests  on  all  that  goes  before  it, 
crowds  it  back,  puts  it  in  new  relations,  and  takes  to 
itself  the  initiative.  Organic  and  instinctive  and 
associative  life  are  now  the  wheels  revolving  in  dark 
places  and  remote  rooms,  by  which  the  loom,  at 
which  sits  the  deft  workman,  is  kept  in  motion. 
These  are  the  forces  to  which  he  commits  the  exe- 
cution in  the  web  of  each  new  pattern  that  rises  to 
his  fancy. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once  that  preparation  has  been 
made  for  the  rational  life  of    man  from   the  very 


200        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

beginning,  that  nothing  hitherto  done  has  been  in 
vain  in  reference  to  its  powers.  Man's  hold  on  the 
physical  world  reaches  through,  and  is  maintained 
through,  all  the  organic  forms  that  separate  him 
from  the  first  germs  of  life.  Man  is  the  epitome  of 
them  all.  The  permeability  of  nerve-tissue  to  varied 
stimuli,  the  combination  of  stimuli  and  sensations 
in  harmonious  living  functions,  have  progressed  to- 
gether, and,  in  the  latest  stage,  have  offered  all  their 
acquired  powers  to  reason  in  its  new  unfolding. 
Each  form  of  life  makes  way  for  another  and  higher, 
each  is  serviceable  to  every  other,  and  life,  in  all  its 
complex  powers  and  in  all  its  complex  forms,  bears 
the  burdens  that  reason  puts  upon  it. 

The  length  of  time  required  by  this  evolution  is 
seen  if  we  consider  (i)  its  relation  to  physical  ele- 
ments. Evolution  in  these  elements  involves  the 
evolution  in  the  life  which  was  to  spring  up  under 
them  and  move  forward  with  them.  The  change- 
able environment  carried  with  it  the  shifty  life.  (2) 
This  length  of  time  is  embraced  also  in  the  co- 
etaneous  evolution  of  vegetable  and  animal  life,  the 
one  waiting  on  the  other;  and  in  the  immense  field 
covered  by  the  two,  succeeding  plants  and  animals, 
always  in  a  general  and  often  in  a  very  definite  way, 
having  been  dependent  on  previous  plants  and  ani- 
mals for  nourishment.  The  formation  everywhere  of 
fertile  soil  is  itself  largely  the  result,  of  life,  while 
the  higher  animals  demand,  directly  or  indirectly,  in 
the  conditions  of  their  existence,  most  of  what  has 
gone  before  them.  Man's  uses  in  turn  range  through 
the  world,  and  especially  through  its  living  things. 


BODY    OF    MAN.  201 

So  deep  is  this  his  dependence  that  it  is  often  not 
safe  for  him  to  exterminate  life  that  he  deems  per- 
nicious. (3)  We  find  the  time  occupied  in  evolu- 
tion not  only  congruous  with  the  movement  of  the 
forces  that  take  part  in  it,  with  the  inter-dependence 
of  its  several  portions,  and  with  the  vastness  of  the 
field  swept  over  by  it,  but  also  with  the  intellectual 
structure  of  man.  His  thought  follows  this  evolu- 
tion in  the  past  and  takes  part  in  it  in  the  present 
by  means  of  these  measured  steps  of  progress. 

Let  us  intensify  to  our  apprehension  this  evolu- 
tion in  its  relation  to  him  as  the  one  rational  being 
who  is  its  crowning  product.  An  excellent  illustra- 
tion of  a  supreme  power  in  man,  the  complex  pro- 
duct of  stimuli  and  sensations  wrought  together 
automatically  and  voluntarily,  is  the  vigor  with 
which  he  maintains  an  upright  position.  This  atti- 
tude, while  it  is  a  crowning  physical  expression  of 
a  spiritual  preeminence,  is  mechanically  a  very  weak 
one.  Man,  with  marvelous  poise,  is  able  both  in 
rest  and  in  motion  to  make  his  position  one  of  ease 
and  strength.  Sight,  touch — as  of  the  foot — muscu- 
lar sensations,  and  still  more  obscure  stimuli — quite 
likely  due  to  the  semicircular  canals  of  the  ear — 
concur  in  this  result.  The  sailor  easily  and  firmly 
walks  the  rocking  deck,  the  only  steadfast  upright 
thing  amid  all  its  lines  and  planes. 

The  physical  organism  mediates  in  two  ways  be- 
tween matter  and  mind  ;  first,  by  carrying  inward 
impressions  made  by  matter,  and,  secondly,  by  bear- 
ing outward  impulses  due  to  mind.  In  both  of 
these   directions  the  endowments  of  man  are  of  a 


202        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

supreme  order.  The  range  of  his  senses^  supple- 
mented and  supported  as  they  are  by  mental  powers, 
is  very  great.  The  ear  of  man  has  a  discrimination 
of  sounds  extended,  convenient  and  searching. 
Vibrations  between  the  limits  of  sixteen  and  thirty- 
two  thousand  per  second,  are  recognized  by  him. 
He  does  not  suffer  the  interruption  and  annoyance 
of  every  vibration,  nor  lose  those  which  are  the 
primary  material  of  knowledge.  We  are  to  remem- 
ber also  that  any  unusual  intensity  of  a  single  sense 
would  tend  to  exclude  other  senses ;  and  a  general 
intensity  of  sensations  and  perceptions  would  keep 
back  intellectual  development.  How  exact  and 
penetrative  is  this  search  of  the  ear !  Take  rapid 
speech,  broken  in  upon  and  overlapped  by  the 
speech  of  others,  and  the  slightest  articulation,  in- 
tonation and  modulation,  are  gathered  up  in  the 
swift-flowing  stream.  The  sounds  yield  at  once  both 
the  thought  and  the  emotion  they  contain.  The 
complex  experiences  of  one  or  more  human  lives 
come  thronging  in,  a  motley  crowd,  at  this  gate  of 
the  mind.  The  leader  of  an  orchestra  penetrates 
that  great  volume  of  sound — as  changeable  as  mists 
shaken  by  winds — with  a  sense  that  searches  out 
the  last  constructive  element.  The  tone,  the  time, 
the  proportion  held  by  each  instrument  in  its  own 
rapid  flow  of  notes  and  in  its  relation  to  every  other 
instrument,  are  followed  by  a  throbbing  sensitive- 
ness, cognizant  of  every  felicity  and  infelicity  of 
combination. 

The  eye  of  man,  though  not  equal   in  particular 
forms  of  vision  to  the  eyes  of  some  animals,  has,  in 


SENSES    OF    MAN.  2C>3 

connection  with  the  mind  of  man,  an  immeasurably 
broader  range  than  any  corresponding  sense.  The 
ease  and  rapidity  with  which  it  follows  the  printed 
page,  the  kindred  facility  with  which  it  learns  to  in- 
terpret the  obscure  signs  in  nature  of  any  science, 
its  movement  by  the  aid  of  the  microscope  through 
the  world  of  minute  things,  and  by  the  telescope 
through  the  universe  of  immense  things,  make  it 
the  entirely  adequate  inlet  to  the  fullest  data  of 
the  largest  intellectual  life.  Men  have  never  put 
measurement  to  this  magnificent  portal  of  knowl- 
edge and  beauty. 

Man  is  equally  well  endowed  with  the  facile  in- 
struments of  power.  No  matter  what  the  ear  and 
the  eye  let  in,  the  voice  and  the  hand  can  give  it 
proportionate  utterance.  They  add  assertion  to 
revelation,  as  the  sky  adds  color  to  light,  and  the 
thoughts  of  man  have  much  of  the  fullness  and 
charm  of  expression  which  belong  to  the  forces  of 
nature  as  they  awake  with  the  day.  The  hand  of 
man  is  the  most  variable  and  deft  of  instruments. 
All  other  tools  are  straitened  and  awkward  in  com- 
parison with  it.  They  all  yield  themselves  to  it, 
and  simply  expand  its  power.  There  is  nothing 
which  man  proposes  to  do,  in  whose  accomplish- 
ment the  hand  cannot  adequately  second  him. 
Compare  it  with  any  instrument  of  merely  animal 
life,  and  its  superiority  is  as  immeasurable  as  that 
of  the  mind  of  man.  A  great  violinist  is  instinct, 
in  every  movement  of  the  arms,  in  every  touch  of 
the  fingers,  with  a  musical  inspiration,  that  pours 
itself  out  in  perfect  execution,  in  combinations  and 


204        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

contrasts,  as  variable,  rapid  and  significant,  and  as 
inapproachable,  as  the  subtlest  interplay  in  light  of 
natural  forces. 

In  this  relation  of  the  physical  structure  of  man 
to  the  organic  structures  of  the  world,  we  have  (i) 
protracted  and  complete  preparation  by  the  lower 
for  the  higher.  This  slow  accumulation  of  organic 
powers  in  specific  lives,  this  diffusion  of  them  in 
many  forms,  in  many  lives,  have  plainly  before 
them  this  enlarged  ulterior  service  for  man,  their 
chief  possessor.  We  have  also  (2)  a  reshaping  of 
the  lower  by  the  higher.  Reason  at  once  takes  the 
initiative,  enlarges  and  represses  the  powers  be- 
neath it  for  its  own  ends.  Thus  instinct  rapidly 
disappears.  We  have  further  (3)  a  thorough  use 
of  the  lower  by  the  higher.  The  organic  powers 
which  have  prepared  the  way  for  reason  become 
subject  to  it.  Reason  lays  hold  of  organic  life  and 
associative  life  as  instruments  in  its  work.  It  gains 
skill,  but  the  combinations  of  skill  and  the  labors 
of  skill  it  passes  over  to  the  organic  structure.  It 
judges,  but  it  treasures  judgment  in  association. 
These  are  the  pack-horses  in  its  train,  bearing  the 
spoils  as  it  moves  on  to  new  conquests. 

(4)  Under  this  law  of  development  reason  comes 
in  as  a  new  term,  and  the  development  itself  is 
henceforth  constructed  more  and  more  in  reference 
to  it.  We  speak  of  educating  the  senses  ;  it  is  im- 
possible to  educate  them  without  an  accompanying 
education  of  the  mind.  The  eye  sees  as  the  mind 
directs  and  interprets.  The  muscles  discriminate 
in  execution  what  the   mind   discriminates   in   con- 


SPACE    AND     TIME.  2C>5 

ception.  Force,  flexibility,  grace,  become  hencefor- 
ward products  of  physical  powers  as  permeated  by 
rational  life.  If  this  life  grows  narrow  and  feeble, 
the  body  decays  with  it.  It  has  left  behind  it 
merely  animal  vigor,  and  must  now  win  the  higher 
circle  of  rational  gifts. 

§  3.  This  last  fact  may  be  put  in  another  form 
and  under  another  light.  The  world  is  thoroughly 
fitted  to  the  unfolding  of  man's  intellectual  powers. 
The  mind  of  man  has  an  almost  unlimited  range 
of  space  and  time  as  furnishing  the  conditions  and  in- 
centives of  thought.  The  more  narrow  the  life,  the 
more  restricted  are  its  impulses  in  these  respects. 
Instinct  is  added  to  organism  to  give  it  a  freer 
movement  in  space  and  a  broader  prevision  in 
time.  Associative  life  is  an  advance  on  instinctive 
life  in  its  contemplation  of  surrounding  objects, 
while  reason  is  ready  for  the  consideration  of  the 
largest  spaces  and  longest  times.  At  each  step 
from  barbarism  to  civilization  and  from  civilization 
to  enlightenment,  the  breadth  of  interests  and  pe- 
riods is  amplified.  Men  work  more  and  more,  feel- 
ing that  work  has,  in  its  relations,  in  its  motives 
and  issues,  no  bounds.  When  the  finite  reason  rec- 
ognizes the  infinite  reason,  its  thought  gliding  on 
with  the  great  sum  of  all  thought,  this  enlarge- 
ment, continuous  from  the  very  dawn  of  life,  passes 
to  its  zenith. 

The  inventions  and  discoveries  of  science  lie  in 
the  same  direction.  As  astronomy  opens  up  the  in- 
finite reaches  of  space,  so  geology  pushes  back 
through  the  aeons  of  time  and  fills  with  its  record 


206        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

the  years  of  eternity  beyond  vision.  Expansion  In 
one  direction  is  accompanied  with  corresponding 
expansion  in  the  other,  and  omnipresence  takes  up 
both  measurements.  If  the  telescope  bears  the  eye 
outward,  the  microscope  bears  it  inward  ;  and  over 
against  the  universe  of  magnitudes  is  put  that  of 
molecules.  The  breadth  of  the  plan  is  matched  by 
its  comprehensiveness.  If  we  are  constrained  to 
worship,  we  are  persuaded  also  to  trust.  If  we  are 
ready  to  be  overwhelmed  and  lost  among  these  in- 
numerable and  great  things,  divine  love  finds  us  in 
the  care  it  extends  to  little  things. 

That  the  world  is  a  school  of  literature,  science 
and  philosophy,  the  results  sufficiently  show.  Sim- 
ple problems  make  way  for  more  difficult  ones. 
And  there  is  never  a  moment  in  which  the  paths  of 
progress  are  not  open,  nor  ever  a  moment  in  which 
the  interest  of  pursuit  slackens.  Language  is  the 
chief  instrument  of  intellectual  development,  and 
language  gathers  wealth  with  every  rolling  year. 
Things  are  grouped  in  nature  under  constructive 
forms.  Concrete  objects  offer  themselves  to  sen- 
sation. Then  enters  the  analytic  and  synthetic 
reason.  Qualities  and  relations  are  discriminated  and 
grouped  for  the  purposes  of  thought  and  of  rational 
handling.  Language,  separating  single  properties, 
actions,  relations,  and  uniting  properties,  actions, 
relations  in  classes  according  to  inherent  connections, 
constructs  a  world  of  thought  which  is  the  internal 
skeleton  of  the  world  of  things.  The  two  lie  over 
against  each  other  as  the  ocean  and  the  chart  by 
which  it  is  navigated.     The  growth  of  language  and 


PERSONIFICATION.  20J 

of  mind  in  and  by  language,  is  as  distinct  an  intel- 
lectual fact  as  the  arrangement  of  specimens  in  a 
museum  by  genera,  orders  and  classes.  Man  can 
hardly  live  without  speech,  and  no  man  speaks  with- 
out discrimination,  and  no  speech  can  grow  up  into 
a  tongue  without  being  a  great  intellectual  world  by 
itself,  the  reflection  of  the  one  world  in  us  and 
about  us. 

To  this  constant  constructive  activity  of  mind 
under  thought-relations,  is  added  a  constantly  deep- 
ening insight  into  the  force  and  relation  of  those 
physical  phenomena  which  lie  as  a  language  between 
the  mind  of  man  and  the  Infinite  Mind.  The  subtr 
lety  and  universality  of  this  insight  are  seen  in  the 
perpetual  personification  which  goes  on  in  the  mind 
of  man,  even  in  those  minds  which  regard  it  as  a 
false  anthropopathic  tendency.  Law  in  its  preva- 
lence is  not  merely  set  down  as  a  fact  as  broad  as 
our  experience, — which  is,  in  truth,  a  very  narrow 
experience — it  becomes  a  great  principle,  a  convic- 
tion that  casts  its  immeasurable  shadow  over  all 
the  unexplored  spaces  of  the  universe,  and  plants  a 
throne  therein  like  a  demiurge.  We  give  it  the 
force  and  extension  of  our  own  thought,  and  readily 
believe  that  it  has  a  like  vigor  in  the  world  about 
us.  Ninety-nine  parts  in  this  mental  creation  tran- 
scend experience.  We  speak  of  the  reign  of  law, 
and  it  does  not  express  the  scope  of  our  senses  but 
the  range  of  our  thoughts.  Thus  also  we  personify 
truth.  We  are  struck  with  its  unity ;  it  seems  to  us 
to  have  the  mastery  of  the  world.  This  is  simply 
mind  recognizing  the  standards  of    mind,  and  dis- 


208        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

covering  that  mind  has  been  everywhere  before  it ; 
that  things  are  constructed  together  in  a  universe, 
whose  fundamental  relations  are  relatively  few,  and 
whose  facts  lie  together  in  the  field  of  knowledge. 
In  the  same  spirit  we  personify  nature  as  the  invisi- 
ble, pervasive  personality,  whose  presence  we  feel, 
by  whose  constructive  forces  we  are  surrounded.  If 
we  resent  this  intrusion  of  the  personal,  if  we  re- 
fuse to  carry  it  forward  to  its  theistic  fullness,  never- 
theless it  returns  to  us  after  a  little  as  "  The  Un- 
known/' as  "  The-not-ourselves-that-makes-for-right- 
eousness."  The  unities  of  thought  and  of  purpose 
in  the  world  are  too  strong  for  us  ;  they  push  back 
upon  us  some  recognition  of  their  existence,  and 
cast  upon  us  some  shadow  of  a  personal  presence. 
No  matter  how  far,  with  the  simple  clues  of  science, 
we  may  have  pushed  our  solitary  way  into  the 
silence  and  darkness,  we  do  not  escape  the  fascina- 
tion of  personality,  and  just  at  the  end  we  face 
about  with  a  personification  on  our  lips,  a  faint 
return  of  hope  and  life  to  our  thoughts,  the  flash 
of  a  departing  day.  An  absolute  blank  in  rational 
life  the  mind  will  not  confront  ;  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation  is  too  deeply  planted.  If  we  miss  the 
true  presence,  we  people  the  world  with  sprites  and 
spirits ;  or,  failing  of  these,  with  the  shadows  of 
our  cold  personification,  testifying  all  the  while  to 
ourselves  of  the  discovery  we  have  made  of  pure 
spiritual  elements. 

Herein  is  undeniably  the  obscure  germ  of  a  new 
development,  as  truly  as  was  consciousness  when 
it  arose  faintly  among  stimuli,  its  sensations  hardly 


SOCIAL    DEVELOPMENT.  20O, 

able  to  touch  the  life  below  them.  In  the  perception 
of  truth  and  beauty  and  right,  man  reaches  pro- 
founder  relations  of  things  and  actions  than  belong 
to  them  in  their  sensible  properties,  and  out  of 
these  new  terms  there  arises  a  new  development. 
The  terminologies  of  science  and  religion  are  yet 
a  long  way  apart,  but  this  fact  of  a  new  and  larger 
life  is  tersely  covered  by  the  words  of  Christ,  "Ye 
must  be  born  again." 

§  4.  The  first  stage  in  this  spiritual  development 
is  social — we  say  the  first  stage,  though  the  several 
stages  accompany  each  other.  Social  growth  has 
three  impulses,  which  succeed  each  other,  without, 
however,  the  absolute  loss  of  any.  The  seed  has 
first  its  nourishment  in  itself,  and  later  takes  it  from 
the  earth  beneath  it  and  the  air  above  it.  The 
simplest  impulses  in  society  are  appetites  and  affec- 
tions of  a  narrow  but  decided  range.  These  are 
supported  on  their  own  plane  by  the  necessity  of 
safety,  and  together  they  result  in  tribes.  With  in- 
tellectual development  comes  national  life,  giving 
the  conditions  needed  for  the  play  of  the  desires, 
which  constitute  the  second  class  of  incentives. 
The  range  of  activities  and  sentiments  incident  to 
the  desires  of  wealth  and  power  and  position,  is  much 
greater  than  that  of  the  appetites,  though  its  centre 
in  personal  well-being  remains  the  same.  This  de- 
velopment opens  up  all  the  phases  of  civilization. 
It  separates  families  more  distinctly  below,  and  com- 
bines races  above  into  great  nations,  offering  scope 
to  large  and  varied  ambitions.  Both  results  are  in 
the  self-seeking    impulses.       The  personal   element 


210        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

draws  to  itself  its  immediate  dependencies  in  the 
family,  while  the  compacting  of  national  life  broad- 
ens for  all  the  field  of  the  desires.  This  is  the  era 
of  state-craft  and  of  economies,  whose  laws  are  those 
of  self-interest.  Government  is  first  a  question  of 
national  power,  whose  advantages  accrue  primarily 
to  those  who  control  the  nation  ;  and  later,  as  vision 
grows  more  clear  and  influence  broadens  among  men, 
it  becomes  a  question  also  of  protection  within  the 
nation,  of  the  defence  of  citizen  against  citizen,  and 
of  citizens  against  rulers.  In  either  case,  the  laws 
involved  are  those  of  self-interest. 

This  is  equally  true  of  the  principles  of  Political 
Economy.  Whether  protection  or  free-trade,  capi- 
tal, labor  or  currency,  is  discussed,  the  facts  sought 
into  are  those  which  uncover  the  pecuniary  interests 
of  the  parties  involved  in  them  The  law  which 
most  broadly  reconciles  these  interests  is  the  one 
enforced.  All  questions  are  intellectual  questions, 
and  though  the  discussion  will  not  often,  with 
Machiavelian  indifference,  set  aside  moral  relations, 
neither  will  it  rest  its  conclusions  upon  them. 
Morals  may  receive  their  own  independent  enforce- 
ment, the  amenities  of  a  social  life  will  be  allowed 
to  hover  about  the  person  as  a  part  of  his  freedom, 
an  appropriation  of  his  personality,  but  the  laws 
laid  down,  as  offering  to  society  its  combining  con- 
ditions, will  still  be  those  of  self-interest. 

There  are  in  this  social  evolution  some  points  to 
be  distinctly  observed,  (i)  Imperfect  and  partial 
combinations  take  place  on  an  appetitive  basis. 
These  give  conditions  for  the  ultimate  unfolding  of 


SOCIAL    DEVELOPMENT.  211 

intellectual  impulses  of  a  broader  range.  (2)  The 
desires,  the  product  of  an  enlarged  horizon,  take  up 
this  work  of  social  combination,  and  give  it  great 
extension.  The  range  of  powers  and  feelings  in  the 
individual  is  enlarged  to  the  measure  of  this  social 
world  to  which  he  belongs.  (3)  These  impulses,  in 
turn,  reach  a  point  beyond  which  they  cannot  go, 
and  from  which  they  must  give  place  to  spiritually 
constructive  powers  if  the  development  is  to 
proceed. 

The  spiritual  law  of  a  true  spiritual  life  was  long 
since  laid  down.  The  law  commends  itself  to  the 
thoughts  of  men,  but  has  not  established  itself  as  a 
living,  controlling  sentiment.  There  is  always  much 
hesitancy  in  passing  from  one  group  of  impulses  to 
another,  as  from  those  which  govern  barbarous  life 
to  those  which  govern  civilized  life.  Such  changes 
involve  not  simply  individual  convictions  but  a  re- 
construction of  communities  and  nations.  This  law 
of  society  by  which  alone  it  can  take  on  new  force 
and  forms,  is  the  second  commandment,  "  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  Under  this  law  con- 
flict ceases,  the  life  of  each  is  enlarged  by  the 
life  of  all,  powers  and  possessions  are  no  longer 
selfishly  appropriated.  Society  becomes  one  in  its 
blessings  and  enjoyments,  and  that  by  the  clear 
light  and  inner  freedom  of  its  own  convictions. 
The  impulses  of  life  cease  to  set  inward  under  self- 
interest,  but  turn  outward  toward  the  general  inter- 
est, toward  the  thing  highest  and  best.  The  mind 
thus  escapes  the  bickerings  of  conflict,  the  narrow- 
ing, backward  flow  on  its  own  interests  of  its  largest 


212        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

efforts,  the  increasing  inner  limitations  of  its  too 
personal  life,  and  puts  in  their  place  aspirations  as 
broad  and  peaceful  as  its  own  best  vision.  Some 
may  deny  that  there  is  in  the  human  heart  the  spring 
to  any  such  unfolding;  they  will  hardly  deny  that 
this  unfolding  is  a  great  ideal  in  which  the  spiritual 
life,  losing  no  true  inner  hold  on  itself, — we  are  to 
love  our  neighbor  as  we  love  ourselves — expands  to 
the  full  compass  of  rational  life,  taken  in  its  broad- 
est relations,  deepest  insights,  and  amplest  promise. 
That  simply  intellectual  development  under  self- 
interest  can  not  push  society  indefinitely  forward,  is 
sufficiently  plain,  (i)  The  conflict  between  person 
and  person,  class  and  class,  is  not  removed  by  it. 
There  is,  indeed,  such  a  fundamental  harmony  in 
things,  that  the  highest  interests  of  all  persons  are 
reconcilable  one  with  another;  there  are  just  below 
the  soil  the  foundations  of  a  perfect  moral  structure  ; 
(a)  but  this  reconciliation  must  include  not  exclude 
the  moral  affections.  If  the  hearts  of  men  remain 
passionate  and  selfish,  the  reconciliation  fails,  be- 
cause the  perverse  desires  reject  the  happiness  of- 
fered them,  and  insist  on  other  terms.  (b)  More- 
over, the  ultimate  harmony  of  interests  cannot  be 
fully  seen,  nor  its  laws  accepted  by  men  while  they 
are  pushing  hastily  and  blindly  on  toward  their  own 
pleasures.  The  foundations  spoken  of  are  to  be  un- 
earthed by  the  moral  judgment,  and  disclosed  in 
the  light  of  the  moral  affections.  (c)  If  the  har- 
monic law  were  hit  upon  and  followed,  it  would 
produce  only  very  partial  and  formal  order,  as  its 
true,  informing  spirit  of  love  would  be  wanting.     A 


SOCIAL    DEVELOPMENT.  213 

form  pushed  beyond  the  impulse  which  sustains  it, 
immediately  takes  on  new  phases  of  evil. 

(2)  This  constructive  law  of  love  is  not,  from  the 
nature  of  the  case,  fully  applicable  till  the  commu- 
nity to  which  it  pertains  accepts  it  and  obeys  it  in 
each  of  its  members.  In  other  words,  the  only  full 
preparation  for  the  law  is  a  complete  personal, 
spiritual  development,  under  the  law,  of  all  those 
subject  to  it.  The  law,  like  all  laws  which  express 
the  forms  of  life,  must  control  perfectly  the  material 
subject  to  it,  and  build  all  up  together.  A  spiritual 
development  to  be  complete  anywhere  must  be 
complete  everywhere,  must  be  a  penetrative,  perva- 
sive, social  power.  The  criminal,  the  law-abiding 
but  self-seeking  citizen,  cannot  be  working  con- 
stituents in  this  spiritual  life.  They  cannot  fail  to 
burden  and  reduce  it  by  the  full  force  of  their  own 
personality.  Love  that  is  full,  free,  pure,  peaceful, 
rational,  demands  as  much  in  its  object  as  in  its 
subject.  It  is  action  and  reaction  between  persons 
who  comprehend  truth,  and  each  other  in  the  truth. 
It  is  action  between  magnet  and  magnet.  Petulance, 
pride,  stolidity,  doggedness,  bring  instant  limitations 
to  spiritual  affections,  as  truly  as  to  men's  thoughts; 
narrow  down  both  the  possibilities  of  loving  and  of 
being  loved.  That  a  perfect  law  should  prevail 
among  feeble  and  mutilated  things,  is  an  impossi- 
bility. Love  is  not  an  irrational  impulse,  to  be  ex- 
pended in  the  same  way  toward  all  persons.  It 
sinks  into  rebuke  and  repugnance,  when  men  are 
dropping  below  the  spiritual  level.  Not  only  will 
the  virtues   of   all  men   contract   somewhat    of   the 


214        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

taint  of  the  vices  of  their  fellow  men,  as  good  wine 
cannot  be  kept  in  an  unclean  bottle,  but  these  vices 
will  not  allow  the  free  flow  of  love,  as  neither  worthy 
of  it  nor  suitably  affected  by  it.  Love  under  such 
conditions  instantly  takes  on  the  reservation  of 
reason,  and  ceases  to  be  the  supreme,  regnant  force. 

The  law,  therefore,  of  love  must  save  the  whole 
community  or  it  saves  no  man  perfectly  in  the  com- 
munity. The  spiritual  life,  like  the  life  of  the  body, 
or  the  life  of  the  household,  is  too  delicate  a  thing 
not  to  suffer  loss  and  derangement  from  the  de- 
rangement of  any  one  of  its  members.  If,  therefore, 
the  laws  of  self-interest  are  left  to  work  as  self- 
ishness in  the  hearts  of  men,  there  can  be  no  com- 
plete combining  power  or  continuous  progress. 
Growth  will  be  sporadic,  with  great  chasms  be- 
tween man  and  man,  class  and  class. 

(3)  Such,  in  fact,  has  been  the  history  of  civiliza- 
tion. It  has  not  healed  the  divisions  between  men  ; 
it  has  deepened  them  rather.  It  has  not  stood  firm 
within  itself  and  so  without  itself.  Its  bonds  have 
weakened  as  the  first  impulses  have  been  expended, 
and  so  it  has  succumbed  to  decay  and  accident.  We 
must,  therefore,  clearly  see,  that  only  a  new  incre- 
ment, a  new  law,  has  in  it  the  promise  of  a  new 
life.     That  law  is  the  law  of  our  spiritual  life. 

§  5.  The  fundamental  unfolding  of  our  spiritual 
nature  is  under  its  own  moral  law.  It  has  two 
forms,  one  of  claims  and  one  of  gifts ;  one  aris- 
ing from  the  pressure  of  other  personalities  upon  it, 
and  one  from  its  own  spontaneous  overflow ;  one  of 
justice    and  one   of    benevolence.      Justice    covers 


SPIRITUAL    DEVELOPMENT.  215 

that  which  we  cannot  withhold  without  trespass- 
ing on  the  rights  of  men,  benevolence  that  which 
we  cannot  withhold  without  narrowing  down  the 
inner  force  and  spirit  of  our  own  lives.  Justice 
is  an  external  defence  of  spiritual  life,  benevo- 
lence is  that  life  itself.  The  one  field  is  covered 
by  the  enforced  claims  of  men,  the  other  is  restored 
to  personal  freedom.  Both  proceed  on  the  basis  of 
a  moral  law  which  gives  its  possessor  an  integral 
life  within  himself.  Justice  accepts  rights  as  ulti- 
mate and  as  equal  in  their  purely  personal  force, 
and  so  defines  and  protects  them.  Man  is  thus 
guarded  against  violence,  the  defences  of  life  are  set 
up  for  him,  and  that  without  reference,  to  his  own 
strength.  A  personal  law,  which  gives  independent 
personal  rights,  is  thereby  recognized.  Justice  pro- 
ceeds on  the  ground  that  no  one  person  can  be  al- 
lowed to  put  limits  on  other  persons  endowed  with 
a  like  law,  other  than  those  which  they  share  in  com- 
mon from  common  wants.  Men  are  equal  before 
the  law,  which  is  the  expression  of  justice,  because 
they  have  the  same  ultimate  rights  under  one 
moral  law. 

Benevolence  goes  farther.  It  does  not  contem- 
plate man  in  his  laws  of  combination,  but  in  his  in- 
dividual development.  Here  again  is  recognized  a 
unity  of  powers  and  an  equality  of  values.  The 
variable  social  values  and  shifting  forms  of  human 
lives  are  not  denied  ;  nor  the  disagreeable  pressure, 
therefore,  which  society  puts  upon  its  members. 
But  these  are  all  referred  to  circumstances,  the  in- 
terior oneness  of   rational   life   beine  held  fast,  and 


2l6        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

the  equality  of  freedom  and  privileges  being  made 
to  rest  on  its  purely  personal  element.  The  least 
development  which  a  moral  being  can  make,  shares 
not  merely  the  same  defences  with  the  greatest,  it 
shares  also  the  interest  bestowed  on  the  greatest  as 
of  the  same  nature  with  it.  Manhood  is  not  esti- 
mated as  subject  to  its  accidents,  but  its  accidents 
as  subject  to  it.  Its  position  is  not  adjusted  to  its 
variable  elements,  but  to  its  fixed  relations.  Benevo- 
lence, which  is  the  good-will  involved  in  the  second 
command,  takes  a  universal  view.  It  recognizes  the 
fact  that  spiritual  well-being  does  not  gain  its 
worth  from  the  circumstance  that  it  is  my  well- 
being,  or  the  well-being  of  any  one  ;  but  that  it 
carries  with  it  everywhere,  like  gold*  its  full  value. 
Benevolence,  therefore,  finds  no  limits  in  personal 
bounds,  but  travels  freely  in  all  directions  in  search 
of  ultimate  good. 

Moral  development  lies  in  the  free  unfolding,  first 
of  justice,  then  of  benevolence  ;  twin  impulses  un- 
der that  moral  law  which  gives  to  man  rights  and 
true  worth.  Men,  while  still  engaged  in  the  intel- 
lectual search  after  interests  which  involve  a  proxi- 
mate freedom  in  social  life,  stumble  on  justice,  but 
justice  will  not  complete  itself,  or  pass  up  into  be- 
nevolence, except  as  the  moral  nature,  the  seat  of 
both  laws,  is  unfolded. 

Moral  development  proceeds  from  the  individual 
to  the  family,  from  the  family  to  the  community, 
from  the  community  to  the  nation,  from  the  laws 
within  the  nation  to  those  between  nations.  In 
this  last  relation  we  are  just  ceasing  from   simple 


SPIRITUAL    DEVELOPMENT.  2\*J 

brute  force,  while  in  a  few  favored  households  the 
law  of  love  prevails.  The  reason  of  this  law  of 
growth  is  double,  (i)  The  moral  law  has  its  seat 
in  the  individual,  and  thence  passes  into  public  sen- 
timent— a  movement  the  reverse  of  that  ascribed  to 
it  under  utilitarianism.  (2)  The  moral  law  as  a 
social  law  cannot  find  full  application  save  as  each 
person  under  it  freely  accepts  it,  and  gives  oppor- 
tunity for  a  perfect  joint  life.  This  is  first  se- 
cured in  the  narrower  circle. 

The  physical  and  the  intellectual  unfolding  of  the 
race  are  favored  by  natural  selection.  Cunning,  com- 
bination, counsel,  become  elements  in  progress, 
quite  as  much  so  as  physical  strength,  and  have 
been  favored  in  the  general  struggle.  Natural  selec- 
tion, the  simple  prevalence  of  power  in  the  naked 
struggle  for  life,  can  hardly  go  farther  than  those 
forces  which  make  for  self-interest ;  nor  does  it,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  seem  to  go  farther.  Natural  se- 
lection has  wrought  against  pure  moral  power  as 
a  thing  of  scruples,  restraints  and  burdens.  Moral 
purity  provokes  hostility  and  has  no  defensive 
armor  against  it.  In  the  midst  of  selfish  and  un- 
scrupulous counsels,  moral  integrity  has  great 
power  of  irritation  and  little  power  of  resistance. 
Socrates  stands  as  its  type  ;  where  it  prevails,  it  pre- 
vails on  its  own  basis  as  moral  power,  and,  in  the 
meanwhile,  the  passionate  combatants  for  mere  life 
trample  it  under  foot.  This  is  well,  since  pure  be- 
nevolence, calling  self-interest  to  its  aid,  would 
shortly  be  hopelessly  corrupted  by  it.  Human  life 
must  at  this  transition   be  lifted  off  the   old  gauge 


2l8        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

and  grade  and  be  planted  on  the  new  ones.  The 
moral  impulses  must  take  the  place  of  the  physical 
and  intellectual  ones.  Just  now  the  roots  of  desire 
are  a  little  loosened,  and  yet  we  have  not  learned  to 
replace  them  by  the  affections  which  spring  from 
good-will.  Hence  many  are  asking  whether  life  is 
worth  having,  and  some  are  pessimists.  Having 
pushed  human  life  forward  along  the  narrow  lines 
of  rank,  wealth  and  culture,  and  finding  it  now  as 
hitherto  tossed  and  tormented  in  a  chopping  sea  of 
selfish  impulses,  with  no  spiritual  breadth  of  hori- 
zon or  peacefulness,  we  ask  in  vexation  whether  it 
is  worth  possessing,  our  very  question  indicating 
the  waste  we  have  made  of  it.  Our  method  has 
shut  in  our  lives  and  smothered  them  down  till 
they  are  able,  like  a  feeble,  flickering  light,  only  to 
make  tangible  and  painful  the  surrounding  dark- 
ness. 

An  intellectual  development  drawing  near  its  end 
gives  abundant  material  for  pessimism.  Neither 
the  animal  appetites,  nor  their  enlargement  into 
the  intellectual  desires  with  their  incident  activi- 
ties, offer  any  ultimate  good.  The  appetites,  the 
physical  sensibilities,  remain  the  seat  of  action, 
and  though  action  receives  a  very  sudden  enlarge- 
ment in  the  impulses  of  civilized  life,  mere  action 
must  always  wear  out,  yielding  no  rest.  It  is 
peaceful  revolution  around  a  permanent  centre  that 
alone  bestows  happiness.  Physical  sensibilities  may 
greatly  help  a  rational  life  otherwise  full,  but  the  in- 
stant they  are  looked  to  for  support,  they  disclose 
a  double  weakness,     (i)    They  create   an   appetite 


DESIRES    INSATIABLE.  219 

that  remains  a  permanent  craving  with  no  suffi- 
cient compensation  for  this  discomfort  in  the  brief 
periods  of  gratification.  All  indulgence  has  in  it 
his  ineradicable  vice  of  irritation.  (2)  Physical 
powers  tend  to  slow  decay,  and  so  fasten  on  our 
hopes  the  faintness  of  a  sinking  motion. 

The  desires  which  arise  from  an  intellectual  ex- 
pansion of  the  animal  life,  as  those  of  wealth,  power, 
position,  give  at  once  a  great  increase  of  enjoyment 
by  the  flood  of  feeling  called  out  in  their  pursuit. 
As  the  boyish  life  breaks  out  in  sports,  the  manly 
life  overflows  in  effort.  This  sudden  uplift  of  the 
powers  in  variety  and  in  force  for  a  time  satisfies 
the  spirit.  In  the  exhilaration  of  spring  we  sow 
gladly  and  do  not  question  closely  the  harvest.  We 
take  it  at  its  promised  value.  But  the  harvest  must 
at  length  come,  and  if  that  turns  to  straw,  quite 
another  light  falls  on  the  labors  of  the  spring-time. 
If  the  mind,  having  run  its  circle  of  effort,  is  thrown 
back  on  itself  with  no  increase  of  spiritual  wealth, 
with  none  of  the  contentment  of  real  acquisition 
and  still  further  hope,  then  the  longer  the  route  it 
has  been  led  the  greater  the  unfulfilled  promises 
and  the  deeper  the  sense  of  failure.  A  life  of  de- 
sires, though  a  longer  life  and  one  more  decorous 
than  one  of  appetites,  though  it  closes  the  day  with 
more  dignity  and  less  self-reproach,  equally  misses 
the  blessings  it  promises  itself.  It  is  far  poorer  in 
the  end  than  at  the  beginning.  At  the  close  of 
successive  disappointments  it  can  only  exclaim  : 
"  And   yet,   what   will    you   have  ? 

Can  man   be  made  content  ?  " 


220       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

The  desires  are  very  earnest,  almost  passionate ; 
they  more  or  less  exclude  each  other;  they  push 
exertion  beyond  the  point  of  pleasure,  carrying  it 
over  into  hard  labor;  and  yet  they  return  in  the 
end  with  no  true  power,  no  real  possession,  no  con- 
tentment. Hence  pessimism  characterizes  the  close 
of  this  development.  The  more  circling  and  lofty 
the  flight,  it  is  said,  the  greater  the  plunge.  All 
lifting  up  is  for  this  overthrow.  We  may  readily 
grant  the  assertion,  for  our  lives  are  not  to  be  float- 
ed on  the  swollen  waters  of  desires,  themselves  to 
be  swallowed  up  in  arid  deserts.  From  an  ex- 
perience thus  returning  on  itself  empty-handed, 
having  suffered  infinite  labor  and  jostle,  there  spring 
those  hypochondriacal  moments  in  which  "  the 
world,  viewed  from  the  aesthetic  side,  appears  a 
cabinet  of  caricatures  ;  from  the  intellectual  side,  a 
mad-house ;  and  from  the  moral  side,  a  harboring 
place  for  rascals.  *  *  *  The  few  wide,  pro- 
found and  real  observers  of  human  life  have 
all  known,  and  known  often,  this  fantastic  con- 
sciousness of  living  in  a  strange,  distorted  universe 
of  lunatics,  knaves,  grotesques."  *  The  wisdom  of 
Rabelais'  moral  is  the  true  wisdom  both  for  one's  own 
repose  and  that  of  other  people  :  "  To  do  one's  duty 
so  so,  always  to  speak  well  of  the  prior,  and  to  let 
the  world  go  as  it  lists."f  This  is  the  simple  subsi- 
dence of  the  spiritual  life  to  the  level  of  the  desires, 
with  the  added  recognition  of  the  impossibility  of 
any  real  good  on  that  plane.  To  this  is  sometimes 
joined  a  moral  vision  not  yet  extinguished,  and  sim- 


*  Diderot,  p.  22S, 
f  Ibid.,  p.  431. 


REMEDY.  221 

ply  burdening  the  soul  with  the  dismal  and  false 
conviction  "  that  there  is  in  every  man  and  woman 
something,  which,  if  you  knew  it,  would  make  you 
hate  them."* 

The  remedy  must  be  as  deep  as  the  disease.  A 
new  centre  must  be  taken.  Impulse  must  go  forth 
toward  all  spiritual  life,  with  pure  affection,  under 
one  law.  Not  till  love — love  met  and  measured 
everywhere  by  love — returns  upon  itself  baffled  and 
empty,  is  the  life  that  God  has  given  us  to  be  pro- 
nounced a  failure.  An  attainable  blessedness  is 
sufficient  for  the  brave  and  faithful  spirit. 

What  are  the  bearings  of  these  social  facts  upon 
the  proof  of  the  being  of  God  ?  Simply  this.  Every 
stage  of  development  has  been  so  ordered  that  it 
leads  to  and  must  be  supplemented  by  a  true 
spiritual  development.  Failing  of  this,  the  whole 
movement  becomes  increasingly  futile.  This  then 
is  the  cardinal  fact  of  the  world,  and  one  which 
discloses  its  original  bent,  its  source  in  righteousness, 
and  its  ministration  to  righteousness.  As  the  law  of 
love  comes  to  be  the  uppermost  law  in  life,  life  advan- 
ces to  its  own  good,  and  begins  to  take  in  harmonious- 
ly and  successfully  the  grace  and  the  wealth  of  the 
secondary  spiritual  laws  of  beauty  and  truth. 
It  is  thus  crowded  full,  like  a  vine  well-laden  with 
fragrant  clusters,  with  the  fruits  both  of  physical 
and  intellectual  culture. 

§  6.  An  unfolding  that  must  keep  pace  with  this 
moral  unfolding,  and  in  its  highest  forms  be  the  very 
fountain  of  its  strength,  is  religious  development. 
We  shall  never  actually  reach  spiritual  fulness  under 

*  Ibid.,  p.  232. 


222        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THF    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

the  second  commandment,  till  we  have  reached  it 
under  the  first  commandment. 

The  thoughtful  mind  is  probably  as  distressed  and 
harassed  by  the  religious  history  of  mankind  as  by 
any  one  chapter  in  human  experience.  Why  these 
pitiful,  these  grovelling  and  cruel  superstitions  ;  this 
ignorance  and  this  depravity  under  the  baptismal 
hand  of  religion  !  If  light  and  the  very  source  of 
light  are  here,  why  this  palpable  darkness  ! 

(i)  We  forget  that  a  system  of  growth  must  be 
consistent  throughout ;  that  we  cannot  have  growth 
here  and  gift  there  ;  that  the  intellect  cannot  remain 
subject  to  all  the  stages  of  cultivation,  while  there 
are  great  and  sudden  upliftings  in  the  spiritual  na- 
ture. All  growth,  like  that  of  the  seed,  starts  below 
the  soil  in  darkness  and  decay.  What  men  are  al- 
ways pushing  for  in  their  thoughts  are  gifts,  not 
graces — graces  which  are  the  skilful  wielding  of 
one's  own  powers. 

It  is  not  the  Word  of  God  that  the  world  has 
wanted,  nor  the  authoritative  utterance  of  it  from 
time  to  time,  like  the  booming  stroke  of  a  great 
bell.  The  true  form  and  the  true  force  of  the  idea 
are  what  have  been  needed,  and  these  are  the  things 
that  have  been  and  are  being  slowly  acquired.  Ut- 
ter the  Word  where  you  please,  and  with  what  em- 
phasis you  please,  the  ears  on  which  it  falls  decide 
its  significance.  Take  Italy  in  the  fifteenth  century. 
The  most  shameless  vices  were  seated  under  the 
shadow  of  the  altar  and  ministered  at  the  altar.  The 
form  and  the  force  of  the  divine  image  are  in  the 
mind  itself,  and   can   only  come  forth   with  a  pro- 


DEGENERACY     OF     RELIGION.  223 

portional  spiritual  development.  Not  all  material 
in  all  shapes  can  make  a  mirror.  We  see  something 
of  the  divine  form  and  force  in  the  face  of  Christ, 
for  here  was  a  life  that  held  a  mirror  to  heaven. 
For  this  reason  it  is  that  religions  so  uniformly  de- 
generate,— Parseeism,  the  theism  of  Israel,  Buddhism, 
the  mythology  of  the  Greeks,  and  Christianity  in 
a  dozen  different  lines  of  descent.  Religions  owe 
their  first  force  to  highly  endowed  spiritual  natures. 
Passing  thence  to  the  ordinary  mind,  they  suffer 
continuous  reduction  and  perversion,  till,  divested 
of  power,  they  are  overtaken  by  unbelief. 

There  is  much  feeble  philosophy  expended  in  ex- 
posing the  anthropomorphic  tendency  of  the  human 
mind,  as  if  there  could  or  should  be  in  it  any  other 
method.  We  can  only  escape  from  our  shadows  by 
running  into  the  darkness.  The  inner  light  of  each 
mind  is  the  only  light,  and  Christ  is  the  light  of  the 
world  only  because  he  more  than  another  kindles 
this  light.  Spiritual  development  under  simply  out- 
side revelation  is  impossible,  as  nineteen  Christian 
centuries  have  sufficiently  shown. 

(2)  All  the  crudities  and  even  cruelties  of  flicker- 
ing faiths  are  admissable,  if  not  acceptable,  as  means 
of  progress.  Men  seem  to  think  that  there  is  pe- 
culiar significance  in  every  religious  failure,  as  if  it 
were  in  some  way  a  failure  of  religion,  and  not  of 
men  in  the  pursuit  of  religion.  Religion,  like  knowl- 
edge, must  have  its  phases  of  strength  and  weak- 
ness. If  we  can  tolerate  all  the  bad  judgments  men 
have  made  from  the  very  beginning,  all  the  poor 
philosophy  and  false  science  that  have  been  offered 


224       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

us,  for  the  sake  of  the  real  knowledge,  instructive 
philosophy  and  sound  science  we  now  have,  we  may 
also  bear  the  superstitions  of  the  world  for  the  sake 
of  the  spiritual  life  they  have  kept  alive,  till  it  now 
promises  a  new  era.  The  lamp  may  have  burned 
very  low,  but  it  has  not  gone  out.  Civil  liberty  has 
arisen  slowly,  has  given  rise  to  anarchy,  has  wielded 
the  sword  like  a  maniac :  is  therefore  liberty  of  less 
worth,  or  worth  less  than  the  price  paid  ?  Is  not  the 
greatness  of  the  price  due  to  the  extended  derange- 
ment of  men's  minds,  which  are  to  be  re-arranged  ? 
If  diseases  are  sharp  and  chronic,  the  search  after 
health  is  a  slow  and  painful  one  ;  if  the  spaces  of 
development  are  long,  the  road  must  be  weary. 

(3)  Men  have  also  been  perplexed  by  the  way 
in  which  in  religion  the  more  vague  and  remote  re- 
lations have  overshadowed  and  enfeebled  the  more 
immediate  and  tangible  ones;  by  the  way  in  which 
ill-grounded  dogmas  have  set  aside  well-grounded 
moralities.  This  opposition  between  the  religious 
and  moral  elements  at  any  one  time  and  place  has 
been  more  apparent  than  real.  The  bad  spiritual 
tendency  has  shown  itself,  now  here,  now  there,  and 
the  form  is  the  accident  of  the  times.  Morality 
may  seem  to  suffer,  and  may  actually  suffer,  from 
religious  tenets,  but  on  the  other  hand,  these  tenets 
have  been  shaped  under  the  prevalent  moral 
temper.  Both  are  subject  to  the  deep-seated  ten- 
dencies which  express  the  particular  stage  of  de- 
velopment. If  a  barbarous  community  is  con- 
verted to  Christianity,  the  faith  will  be  exposed  to 
a  practical    and  theoretical  degeneracy   in   the  di- 


DEGENERACY    OF     RELIGION.  225 

rection  of  previous  habits.  If  immoralities  grow 
out  of  these  perversions,  the  perversions  themselves 
were  the  product  of  immoralities.  The  history  of 
Christianity  presents  this  fact  in  every  variety  of 
form.  Religious  beliefs  are  toned  down  to  the 
prevalent  morality  by  a  neglect  of  some  truths,  and 
by  a  strain  put  upon  others.  Mohammedanism  has 
not  greatly  altered  social  and  moral  customs.  Italy 
has  been  filled,  under  a  Christian  faith,  with  vice, 
fanaticism  and  piety,  all  fed  from  one  source  ac- 
cording to  the  emphasis  and  proportion  given  to 
theological  beliefs.  Such  a  doctrine  as  penance 
may  favor  vice  or  fanaticism  or  even  true  re- 
pentance, according  to  the  moral  temper  of  the 
person  who  employs  it.  In  like  manner  the  spirit- 
ual supremacy  of  a  priesthood  will  be  put  to  very 
diverse  service,  and  in  remarkably  contrasted  re- 
lations, according  to  the  personal  spiritual  light  that 
falls  upon  it.  A  door  of  escape  is  to  one  man  a 
persuasive  to  sin,  to  another  a  persuasive  from  it. 
To  ascribe  the  degeneracy  of  a  period  or  of  a  country 
to  its  religious  doctrines,  is  to  refer  associate  effects 
to  each  other,  when  both,  in  their  relations,  are  to  be 
traced  to  more  ultimate  causes.  Religion  is  not 
that  independent  and  supreme  power  which  its 
connection  with  revelation  has  led  us  to  think  it  to 
be.  It  is  partial  and  progressive,  and  may  in  its 
best  forms  succumb  to  corruption.  It  is  a  primary 
agent  among  other  agents,  with  which  it  is  in  con- 
stant interaction.  If  these  are  unfortunate,  religion 
will  ultimately  show  the  misfortune,  and  will  in 
time  extend  it.     The  one   cardinal  fact   is  spiritual 


226        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

development  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men  ;  and 
in  this  development  religion  is  only  the  agent,  it 
may  be  the  supreme  agent,  or  it  may  be  a  secondary 
one.  That  religion  and  morality  can  only  move 
forward  successfully  together  is  plain,  and  equally 
plain,  that  the  ruling  impulse  should  spring  from  re- 
ligion. Religion  calls  for  the  constant  correction 
and  interpretation,  in  its  duties,  of  morality.  Mo- 
rality is  the  field  in  which  its  incentives  properly 
expend  themselves,  in  which  they  temper  themselves 
with  the  wisdom  of  experience.  Humanity  is  the 
field  in  which  what  would  otherwise  be  the  self- 
consuming  heat  of  fanaticism  is  diffused,  and  cooled 
down  into  the  warmth  of  life,  into  beneficent  be- 
nevolence. On  the  other  hand,  morality,  in  its 
rapid  evaporation  of  sentiment,  calls  constantly 
for  the  renewed  inspiration  of  religion.  If  there 
are  no  inclusive  relations  which  unite  all  men, — no 
common  love,  no  kindred  hopes, — the  mere  unity  of 
a  moral  constitution  will  not  carry  with  it  sufficient 
organizing  power.  Nor  shall  we  find  virtue  enough 
in  men  to  kindle  the  virtuous  love  of  man.  The 
material  is  inflammable,  but  fire  cannot  be  started 
by  its  own  heat.  The  first  command  is,  in  its  ful- 
fillment, the  inseparable  antecedent  of  the  second 
command.  The  heart  being  awakened  and  filled  by 
divine  love,  is  made  wealthy  in  love  which  it  can 
lavish  on  men.  The  second  command  will  be 
obeyed  only  as  the  first  command  gives  sufficiently 
bracing  moral  conditions.  We  do  not  make  these 
affirmations  as  exhausting  all  the  facts,  but  as  a 
general  law  of  the  facts. 


MORALITY    AND    RELIGION.  227 

The  true  relation  of  morality  and  religion,  as 
contrasted  with  each  other,  is  that  of  the  facts  from 
which  they  respectively  spring,  under  one  spiritual 
constitution.  Morality  in  this  contrast  defines 
the  limits  and  the  laws  of  action  between  man 
and  man  ;  religion,  between  man  and  God.  As 
religion  rests  on  the  more  comprehensive  and 
momentous  facts,  so  its  impulses  are  propor- 
tionably  fundamental  ;  but  as  morality  touches 
more  nearly  the  daily  life,  as  religion  resolves 
itself  into  duties  at  this  very  point,  morality  must 
be  the  body  of  which  religion  is  the  spirit.  If 
we  come  to  regard  religion  as  a  sort  of  disem- 
bodied presence,  to  which  all  things  are  possible, 
the  weakness  of  our  moral  temper  is  already  ap- 
parent, and  is  sure  to  issue  in  a  fanaticism  of  faith, 
and  later  a  decay  of  faith,  incident  to  the  feeble- 
ness of  the  spiritual  life.  The  vigor  of  spiritual 
life,  as  of  all  life,  is  found  in  the  even  balance 
of  functions,  of  inner  impulses  and  outer  activi- 
ties. 

§  7.  Religion  arises  from  our  belief  in  the  super- 
natural, and  this  supernatural  finds  its  seat  in  God. 
The  facts  which  we  entertain  as  facts  under  this 
notion,  and  chief  among  which  is  the  government 
of  God,  give  rise  to  all  the  peculiar  sentiments 
of  religion.  While  it  is  not,  perhaps,  quite  im- 
possible, it  is  very  difficult,  logically  to  elevate 
natural  theism  into  a  religious  faith  ;  emotion- 
ally, and  therefore  practically,  it  cannot  be  done. 
By  natural  theism  we  understand  a  recognition  of 
the  absolute  universality  of  physical,  causal  laws  in 


228        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

the  worlp!,  and  the  direct  reference  of  these  laws 
to  God  as  the  sole  expression  of  His  being  and 
government.  Law  is  the  dial-plate  of  the  Universe  ; 
the  mechanism  back  of  it  is  the  Divine  Presence. 
Such  a  position  is  intellectually  and  spiritually  one 
of  unstable  equilibrium.  It  has  rarely  been  held, 
even  by  single  minds,  consistently,  and  has  never 
reached  the  power  and  dignity  of  a  religion.  Re- 
ligions have  always  had,  and  always  will  have,  su- 
pernatural elements,  that  is,  elements  that  cannot 
be  covered  by  any  merely  physical  laws,  or  laws 
analogous  to  them.  The  author  of  "  Supernatural 
Religion  "  well  understood  this  connection  in  his 
patient  and  laborious  effort  to  undermine  the  su- 
pernatural. "  There  has  scarcely  been  any  system 
of  religion  in  the  world  proclaimed  otherwise  than 
as  a  direct  divine  command."* 

The  impossibility  of  consistent  natural  theism  is 
plain  for  many  reasons.  (1)  The  view  involved  in 
it  of  physical  law  will  instantly  shape  psychology 
to  itself.  If  natural  laws  are  absolutely  inflexible 
to  even  the  Divine  Mind,  mind  can  only  be  harmo- 
nized with  nature  by  being  included  under  the  same 
laws.  But  this  step  being  taken,  we  have  no 
longer  any  premises  from  which  to  reason  to  the 
existence  of  God.  We  must,  therefore,  give  the 
human  mind  more  scope  than  we  give  the  Divine 
Mind,  or  the  grounds  on  which  we  affirm  the  su- 
premacy of  mind  and  the  ultimate  reference  of  all 
things  to  it  are  lost.  (2)  Moreover,  the  Divine 
Being,  simply  put  back  of  this  natural  order, — a  su- 
perfluous term  under  the   cosmogony   of  science,— 

*  Vol.  i,  p.  2. 


RELIGION     AND    THE    SUPERNATURAL.  220, 

loses  all  personal  power  and  presence.  No  ray  of 
light  comes  from  Him  which  is  not  sifted  through 
physical  mediums.  That  presence  is  thus  practi- 
cally lost  from  the  Universe.  It  is  a  creation  of 
thought  purely  for  purposes  of  thought,  and  yields 
nothing  to  the  affections.  The  thoughts,  therefore, 
will  use  it  as  material  wholly  plastic,  and  they  will 
find  little  occasion  to  retain  it  when  they  have  rec- 
ognized the  full  sweep  of  the  principles,  physical 
and  psychological,  on  which  their  cosmogony  re. 
poses.  (3)  The  God  of  natural  theism  is  not  one 
to  be  prayed  to,  or  worshipped,  or  even  obeyed,  in 
any  direct  way ;  and  a  shrine,  therefore,  will  hardly 
be  set  up,  or  if  set  up,  will  be  without  doctrine, 
rite,  priesthood,  or  fellowship.  Such  a  system, 
radiating  all  personal  power,  must  as  certainly  per- 
ish as  the  body  of  man,  losing  heat  in  infinite 
space. 

The  supernatural,  then,  which  is  the  region  of 
mind  ;  which  touches  the  true  quality  of  thought, 
as  springing  up  free  of  causes  under  the  force  of 
reasons ;  which  includes  personality,  as  potential 
and  responsible  within  itself;  the  supernatural, 
which  takes  the  key  of  the  Universe  from  the  bosom 
of  man,  is  the  very  root  of  religion.  The  laws  of 
mind  not  those  of  matter,  reasons  not  causes,  intel- 
ligences not  forces,  are  ultimate  with  it.  Out  of 
reason  flows  its  cosmogony,  and  the  fountain  of  this 
reason  is  the  bosom  of  God.  Personality  admits 
worship,  petition,  love,  rites,  doctrines,  fellowship ; 
the  impersonal  calls  for  none  of  them.  But  the 
personal  is  the  supernatural,  and  the  supernatural, 


23O        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

in  the  comprehensive  meaning  of  the  word,  becomes 
the  very  essence  of  religion.  The  ways  in  which  it 
shall  manifest  itself  is  quite  a  secondary  considera- 
tion. 

Miracles,  as  the  most  exposed  and  detached  point 
in  the  supernatural,  as  burdened  with  the  largest 
fungus  growth  of  superstition,  and  the  occasion  of 
the  most  frequent  and  pernicious  errors,  have  suf- 
fered the  chief  attack  of  materialism. 

Miracles,  as  mere  facts,  are  the  most  of  them  of 
very  little  moment.  Ninety-nine  in  each  hundred 
could  be  swept  away  with  no  loss  to  faith,  but 
with  great  gain  rather.  It  is  because  of  the 
affinity  of  a  small  remainder  of  miracles  with  the 
religious  spirit  and  method,  that  they  call  for  de- 
fence. Prayer,  worship,  obedience  under  personal  in- 
centives, are  of  the  essence  of  religion,  and  these  all 
involve,  in  one  form  or  another,  the  same  elements  as 
the  miracle.  The  miracle  offers  philosophically  no 
additional  difficulty.  Prayer  can  gain  no  true  hear- 
ing, personal  impulses  can  find  no  sincere  expres- 
sion and  no  range  of  control  from  man  toward  God 
and  God  toward  man,  without  embracing  at  every 
step  the  efficacy  of  spiritual  powers  among  physical 
forces.  The  personal  in  man  and  God  alike  rests  on 
the  supernatural.  The  miracle  thus  becomes,  by  its 
logical  and  emotional  affinities,  a  strategical  point 
in  the  controversy,  settling  the  principles  which  are 
to  rule  in  it.  If  the  miracle  is  really  and  wholly 
irrational,  many  other  things  are  so  also. 

The  adjustment  of  the  natural  and  the  super- 
natural  in   their   true    balance  with   each   other  is 


THE    NATURAL    AND    THE    SUPERNATURAL.  23 1 

fundamental  in  philosophy  and  religion,  and  so  in 
cosmogony.  The  world  ceases  to  be  intellectual 
and  moral  in  its  discipline  if  either  is  lost.  Without 
the  supernatural,  the  power  to  inquire  into  and 
guide  natural  forces,  the  world  is  no  arena  either 
for  rational  thought  or  action.  Both  are  taken  up 
among  effects,  are  a  part  of  the  unchangeable  inter- 
lock, their  apparent  significance  being  only  a  false 
light  hung  out  to  the  reason.  Truth  is  lost,  because 
it  is  a  distinction  which  belongs  to  thoughts  and  not 
to  causes ;  right  is  lost,  for  it  pertains  to  actions  as 
capable  of  modification,  and  not  to  events  as  inevi- 
table. On  the  other  hand,  if  the  natural  is  set  aside 
or  constantly  broken  down,  the  balance  of  reason  is 
again  missed,  though  on  the  opposite  side.  There 
is  no  need  of  reasons,  for  there  is  no  fixed  method 
of  action,  nothing  which  can  be  known  and  relied 
on,  nothing  which  can  be  done  in  one  way  and 
which  must  fail  in  another  way.  If  all  things  are 
changeable,  the  processes  of  reason  are  nugatory  ;  if 
all  things  are  fixed,  the  powers  of  reason  are  lost. 
If  change  is  capricious,  the  supernatural  loses  its 
intellectual  significance,  and  action  becomes  the  bas- 
tard offspring  of  superstitious  fears  and  hopes ;  if 
change  is  impossible,  the  mind  sinks  into  the  decay 
and  lethargy  of  fatalism.  The  natural  is  the  ex- 
pression of  a  supernatural  that  is  wholly  rational, 
and  the  supernatural  is  the  scope  of  thought  be- 
yond language,  is  reason  overtopping  its  own  work. 
Superstition,  the  undue  extension  of  the  super- 
natural, has  been  the  error  of  the  past  ;  scepti- 
cism, the  undue  limitation   of  the  supernatural,  its 


232       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

loss  in  the  natural,  is  the  error  of  the  present.  Both 
lead,  from  opposite  ideas,  to  the  same  issue  ;  both 
are  partial  paralysis  from  different  causes.  It  is 
necessary  that  we  magnify  the  natural,  the  past 
product  of  reason,  and  reimpress  it  on  the  mind  ; 
it  is  also  necessary  that  we  recognize  clearly  the  su- 
pernatural, the  present  product  of  reason,  the  living 
bud  of  thought,  and  assign  it  its  true  position.  Hu- 
man life  is  but  the  interplay  of  the  two  poles,  and 
no  sooner  is  one  lost  than  the  other  is  lost  with  it 
for  all  purposes  of  power. 

We  defend  the  supernatural  as  involving  the  very 
gist  of  faith,  as  finding  its  supreme  expression  in 
theism  ;  and  incidental  to  this  defence  is  the  de- 
fence of  miracles  as  coming  within  the  scope  of  rea- 
son, and  so  of  the  Supreme  Reason. 

The  strong  arguments  against  miracles  are  purely 
mental  presumptions,  and  the  discussion  is  thus  one 
of  philosophies,  of  a  priori  opinions.  If  this  is 
clearly  seen,  the  question  will  be  put  on  its  true 
grounds.  The  conflict,  we  affirm,  is  one  of  adverse 
presumptions,  resting  on  different  views  of  mat- 
ter and  mind.  No  fact  of  science  is  involved  in  it. 
The  more  intelligent  opponents  of  miracles,  grant- 
ing this  a  priori  character  of  the  proof,  would  ac- 
cept the  assertion  that  no  historical  evidence,  such 
as  can  now  be  accumulated  for  an  event  years  or 
centuries  behind  us,  would  suffice  to  establish  a 
miracle,  and  that  the  historical  proof  of  many  mira- 
cles, were  it  not  for  the  nature  of  the  miracle,  should 
be  accepted.  Indeed,  much  of  this  controversy  has 
been  waged   on  the  still  narrower  ground  that  no 


GROUND     OF    UNBELIEF.  233 

proof    whatever   can    overcome    the    presumption 
against  a  miracle. 

The  root  of  this  growing  presumption  is  logically, 
and  has  been  historically,  a  philosophical  one.  It 
has  arisen  from  the  displacement  of  reasons  by  cau- 
ses in  the  Empirical  Philosophy.  This  philosophy 
has  refused  to  accept  at  its  true  value  one  of  the 
elements  in  the  make-up  of  the  world,  and  by  so  do- 
ing has  (i)  crippled  its  conclusions,  and  (2)  riven 
even  its  own  conclusions  an  insufficient  basis.  Cau- 
ses are  invariable  ;  they  give  no  place  for  miracles. 
If,  then,  reasons  are  resolvable  into  causes,  and  so 
causes  cover  the  world,  causes  allow  no  place  for 
miracles,  and  no  sufficient  proof  can  be  offered  for 
them,  as  they  are  of  the  nature  of  a  fundamental  dis- 
cord. They  are  borne  down  by  the  entire  construc- 
tive force  of  the  Universe. 

Science,  amplifying  this  idea  of  the  universality 
of  physical  law,  its  own  investigations  lying  in  this 
field,  adds  its  weight  to  the  presumption  against 
the  supernatural.  Intuitive  Philosophy,  disparaged 
in  the  meantime  as  effete  in  method  and  worthless 
in  conclusions,  has  no  compensatory  influence. 
Even  reason  surreptitiously  and  narrowly  rises  up  to 
say  that  the  order  and  beauty  of  the  world  are  de- 
pendent on  law — law  being  always  supposed  to  in- 
volve causes, — and  that  it  is  therefore  against  both 
order  and  beauty  that  these  laws  should  suffer  either 
arrest  or  modification.  This  assertion  of  reason  be- 
traying itself  is  made  surreptitiously, — under  the 
philosophy  which  it  volunteers  to  support, — because 
reasons  have  been  set  aside  in  favor  of  causes ;  it  is 


234       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

made  narrowly,  because  it  takes  into  consideration 
only  the  physical  half  of  the  problem. 

That  these  convictions  are  only  presumptions  rest- 
ing on  a  philosophy  and  a  science  too  narrow  for  the 
Universe  they  attempt  to  expound,  and  that  they 
are  faced  by  other  presumptions  of  more  breadth  and 
solidity,  are  cardinal  preliminary  facts  to  be  estab- 
lished in  this  controversy.  These  being  established, 
the  way  is  prepared  at  once  for  a  fair  discussion 
of  the  critical  and  historical  evidence  on  which  any 
miracles  are  offered.  They  can  no  longer  be  waved 
aside  as  already  ruled  out  of  the  court  of  reason. 

(i.)  A  philosophy  that  banishes  reasons,  banishes 
all  grounds  of  presumption  one  way  or  the  other ; 
the  Empirical  Philosophy  is  not  entitled  to  any  pre- 
sumptions :  a  philosophy  that  recognizes  reasons, 
must  recognize  all  the  reasons  that  bear  upon  the 
case,  whether  they  spring  from  the  physical  or 
spiritual  bearings  of  the  problem  ;  the  Empirical 
Philosophy  frames  a  one  sided  presumption.  Rea- 
sons are  either  the  premises  of  an  argument  or  the 
motives  of  an  action  ;  causes  as  causes  are  neither  the 
one  nor  the  other,  but  the  sources  of  effects.  There 
are  no  causes  which  as  causes  create  presumptions 
against  miracles.  If  causes  as  causes  occasion  the 
present  feeling  against  them,  causes  as  causes  also 
occasion  the  existing  feeling  for  them.  Causes  are  in 
conflict  with  themselves,  and  we  can  only  sit  by  and 
see  the  issue.  Plainly  no  philosophy  can  use  causes 
both  as  causes  and  reasons,  cannot  ground  a  pre- 
sumption on  the  nature  of  causes,  and  then  enforce 
it  with  the  force  of  reasons. 


A    QUESTION    OF    PRESUMPTIONS.  235 

(2.)  Causes  cannot  yield  reasons  except  by  virtue 
of  a  philosophy  that  recognizes  reasons,  giving  them 
their  true  position.  The  causes  in  the  world,  it 
is  said,  are  sufficient  for  certain  effects  only,  have 
always  manifested  themselves  in  these  effects,  and 
these  prepare  the  way,  in  rational  expectation,  for 
no  other  effects.  Law  has  been,  is  and  must  be 
universal.  This  line  of  argument  is,  through  the 
intervention  of  the  mind,  the  conversion  of  causes 
into  reasons,  and  is  good  if  the  conversion  is  sound 
and  broad,  otherwise  not  good.  The  force  of  the 
facts  involved  in  the  premises  is  not  the  force  of  the 
argument.  This  is  something  very  distinct  and 
very  much  weaker.  The  premises  are  universal 
law,  universal  causation  up  to  the  moment  in  which 
any  given  miracle  is  offered  ;  the  conclusion  is  uni- 
versal causation  then  as  hitherto.  Now,  both  the 
premises  and  the  conclusion  owe  their  vigor  to  a 
mental  conviction,  not  to  a  knowledge  of  facts,  and 
have,  therefore,  no  more  weight  than  properly  be- 
longs to  the  mental  process.  Men  do  not  empiri- 
cally know  that  causation  is  fixed  and  law  universal. 
So  far  are  they  from  this  knowledge,  that  it  is  an 
inference  extended  from  one  case — itself  most  likely 
only  partially  known — in  a  million  to  the  entire 
million.  It  is  thus  an  induction  of  immense  scope, 
if  we  compare  what  is  directly  known  with  the 
ground  covered  by  the  conclusion.  Only  an  ex- 
ceedingly small  part  of  human  experience  is  exact 
enough  to  constitute  a  fact  in  this  induction,  while 
from  the  merest  fraction  of  the  entire  amount,  the 
argument  goes  sweeping  on,  not  simply  to  the  limits 


236       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

of  experience,  but  to  the  limits  of  the  world.  This 
extension  of  the  conclusion  is  no  physical  fact,  it  is 
simply  an  action  of  mind,  entitled  to  whatever 
weight  belongs  to  it  as  an  argument,  and  no  more. 
When  the  miracle,  then,  comes  up  for  discussion, 
both  the  adverse  premises  and  the  adverse  conclu- 
sions are  presumptions  of  mind.  We  do  not  know 
that  law  has  been  universal,  and  if  we  did,  it  would 
still  be  an  inference  of  disputable  force,  that  it  will 
remain  so  ;  the  facts  do  not  go  beyond  the  facts.  It 
is  only  a  mental  conviction  that  the  future  shall  be 
like  the  past.  Argument,  reasons  are  let  in  by  this 
extension,  and  must  be  granted  at  once  their  full 
sweep.  Facts,  causes  give  no  presumptions  save  to 
mind  for  the  free,  rational  uses  of  mind. 

The  Empirical  Philosophy  that  offers  this  insuper- 
able objection  to  miracles  and  the  proof  of  mira- 
cles, while  it  throws  away  the  larger  share  of  rea- 
sons in  behalf  of  causes,  is  not  entitled  even  to 
causes.  A  more  surprising  medley  of  fundamental 
contradictions  has  been  rarely  gotten  together 
than  that  involved  in  the  scepticism  of  this  phil- 
osophy. Its  logical  outcome  is  nihilism  as  the 
only  legitimate  result  of  its  self-destructive  move- 
ment, but  nihilism  is  so  suicidal  as  to  make  it  im- 
possible to  assert  its  conclusions  without  at  the 
same  time  denying  them.  To  say  that  we  know 
nothing,  is  to  wipe  off  the  board  the  only  words  we 
have  written  upon  it,  and  to  leave  it  free  for  a  new 
start  :  nihilism  is  no  philosophy. 

When  we  use  this  so-called  philosophy  to  raise 
a    presumption   against   the   supernatural     facts    in 


PRESUMPTIONS    FOR    MIRACLES.  237 

mind  and  in  the  history  of  mind,  the  confusion  and 
contradiction  of  our  premises  and  conclusions  are 
complete.  Causes  are  supersensual,  and  must  be 
referred  for  their  very  existence  to  a  conviction  of 
mind.  But  if  we  set  aside  causes,  and  substitute 
sequences  for  them,  we  have  neither  causes  nor 
reasons;  and  can  construct  no  argument  touching 
the  physical  world  ;  nor,  indeed,  any  world  unless 
we  restore  the  connections  of  mind.  If  there  are 
no  causes,  then  the  mere  sequence  of  events  in  the 
past  is  no  cause  operating  on  the  mind  to  induce 
the  expectation  of  a  kindred  sequence  in  future. 
If  our  thoughts  have  first  fallen  apart,  having  no 
rational  link  among  themselves,  and  if  things  have 
now  followed  in  the  same  direction,  having  no 
causes  to  bind  them,  the  whole  Universe  is  re- 
duced to  a  dust  heap  of  disintegrated  particles,  and 
nothing  in  any  direction  can  follow  from  any  other 
thing  in  any  direction. 

We  return,  then,  to  our  assertion  that  the  con- 
viction against  miracles  is  a  mere  presumption,  hav- 
ing no  more  proof  than  the  philosophy  on  which  it 
rests,  a  philosophy  of  the  most  fragmentary  and 
contradictory  character.  We  are,  therefore,  not 
simply  at  liberty  to  give  causes  and  reasons — rea- 
sons as  the  ground  of  causes,  and  causes  as  the  ex- 
pression of  reasons — full  sweep ;  we  must  give  them 
full  sweep,  and  so  sift  to  the  bottom  the  presump- 
tions for  and  against  the   supernatural. 

§  8.  The  presumptions  for  miracles — the  reasons 
which  should  prepare  us  to  receive  them — are,  we 
believe,  more  profoundly  consonant  with  the  whole 


238       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

scope    of    human  life   than  the    opposite  presump- 
tions,    (t)  Miracles  are  in   harmony  with   the  con- 
structive  forces   of  the   world,    if  we    accept  freely 
both  elements  that  enter  into  it,  the   physical   and 
the  spiritual.     The   supernatural,  deeply  rooted  in 
the  constitution  of  man,  its  most  significant  factor, 
implies  an  equal  preeminence  of  intellectual  power 
in  the  world  collectively.    Wherever  we  start,  what- 
ever we  discuss,  we  shortly  reach  the  supersensual, 
and  shortly  after  the  spiritual.     Even  matter  itself, 
in  its  existence,  properties,  laws,  is  interpreted  at 
once  by  an  intellectual  endowment  of  supersensual 
forces,  that  include  and  express  the  relations  and 
coherence  of  thought  in  things.    When  we  pass  into 
life,   plastic   powers  at   work   in   a   thousand    trans- 
cendant  ways  become  a  part  of   the  problem,  and 
when  we  reach  mind,  unseen  powers  are  interlocked 
everywhere  with  physical   forces,  working  through 
them  their  own  special  purposes.     If  thus  we  start 
at  the  very  beginning  with  the  supersensible,  and  in 
the  constitution  of  thought  pass   up  to  the  super- 
natural in  mind,  it  lies  plainly  in  the  line    of  this 
rational  progress   to  recognize  a  Supreme  Power,  a 
sufficient  source  of   every  one  of  these  manifesta- 
tions.  As  the  body  of  man,  a  physical  microcosm,  is 
permeated   by  mind   as  a  working  power,  so,   evi- 
dently, may  the  Universe  be  permeated  by  a  pres- 
ence still  more  deft  in  working  its  way  among  phy- 
sical things.      The  movements  in  the  Universe,  as 
of  light,   heat,  electricity,  are   as  subtle  as  and   far 
more   rapid  than   those   of  nervous   energy  in  the 
body.     Miracles  are  consonant  with  this  predomin- 
ance of  the  supernatural. 


PRESUMPTIONS    FOR    MIRACLES.  239 

(2)  Miracles  serve  to  emphasize  the  rational  ele- 
ments in  the  world  with  a  force  not  otherwise 
attained.  The  physical  tends  by  its  magnitude 
and  persistency  to  overshadow  the  spiritual.  The 
spiritual  has  occasion  to  assert  itself,  at  least  so  far 
as  the  feeling  of  man  is  concerned.  While  the 
spiritual  underlies  the  physical,  it  is  not  identical 
with  it  or  confined  to  it.  It  has  its  own  superior 
ends,  which  may  be  reached  by  its  own  superior 
means.  The  vigor  with  which  every  empirical  ten- 
dency attacks  the  miraculous,  itself  shows  the  sup- 
port which  the  miracle  gives  to  mind,  and  the  bal- 
ance it  helps  to  maintain.  Reason  is  certainly  at 
liberty  to  assert  itself  above  the  physical  as  well  as 
through  it.  Indeed,  if  it  never  appears  otherwise 
than  by  the  physical,  the  physical  cannot  fail  to 
crowd  it  out  in  men's  thoughts.  It  belongs  to 
reason  to  accommodate  itself  to  any  defect  in  the 
means  employed,  or  in  the  persons  addressed. 

(3)  Miracles  express  and  support  personality. 
Religion  turns  on  the  personal.  It  must  admit 
prayer,  evoke  worship,  call  out  love,  and  all  these 
are  at  one  with  that  Personal  Presence  supremely  ex- 
pressed in  the  miracle.  If  the  miracle,  as  a  possible 
and  rational  thing,  disappears,  it  carries  with  it 
prayer,  and  makes  remote  and  inefficacious  the 
inner  circle  of  those  higher  affections  which  it  is  the 
supreme  office  of  religion  to  call  forth.  A  heavy,  suf- 
focating atmosphere  rests  down  on  that  spiritual  life 
by  which  alone  man  can  inherit  the  world.  The  re- 
duction and  undervaluation  of  life,  which  accompa- 
ny this  critical  tendency  in  our  time,  are  very  plain. 


240       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

(4)  The  spiritual  training  of  the  world  has  actu- 
ally proceeded  on  convictions  inseparable  from  the 
miraculous.  The  worship,  the  psalmody,  the  prayer 
of  devout  spirits  or  of  great  assemblies,  have  been 
permeated  with  the  feeling  of  an  immediate,  Divine 
Presence,  involving  supervision  and  open  to  inter- 
vention. The  man  who  cannot  assert  the  possibility 
of  a  miracle,  can  hardly  assert  anything  which  calls 
forth  faith  or  feeds  affection.  Human  feelings  can- 
not be  touched  in  their  depths,  nor  controlled  in 
their  full  force,  otherwise  than  by  a  Power  at  once 
above  them  and  sympathetic  with  them.  This  is 
preeminently  true  of  popular  thought,  that  reaches 
truth  as  often  through  the  ministration  of  the  emo- 
tions, as  emotions  by  the  aid  of  truth.  A  disposition 
to  despise  as  inferior  and  false  the  conditions  of 
popular  progress,  indicates  a  conceit  of  intellect  that 
has  not  much  to  commend  it.  The  hymn  that  as- 
cends in  volume,  borne  up  by  the  voice  of  a  great 
multitude,  has  an  emotional  force  that  springs  from 
the  constitution  of  man,  and  has  significance  there- 
fore in  spiritual  discipline.  Some  reason  as  if  it 
were  not  rational  for  a  Divine  Discipline  to  be  effi- 
cacious, to  treat  men  according  to  their  actual  en- 
dowments, to  handle  them  under  the  real  terms  of 
their  lives.  The  spiritual  training  of  the  world  vin- 
dicates itself  in  that  it  has  actually  been  fruitful  and 
progressive. 

The  presumption  in  favor  of  miracles  admits  of 
enforcement  in  many  directions,  but  the  root  of  it 
is  the  presence  of  the  supernatural  in  the  world,  its 
priority  of  power  and  importance,  and  the  discipline 


PURPOSE    OF    MIRACLES  24I 

of  men  as  locked  up  in  it.  While  the  supernatural 
becomes  more  rather  than  less  manifest  in  the  prog- 
ress of  truth,  its  extreme  expression  in  miracles 
plays  a  different  part  in  different  phases  of  develop- 
ment. Nor  is  this  fact  out  of  harmony  with  the 
general  method  of  organic  and  intellectual  growth. 
Higher  forms  of  life  constantly  supersede  lower 
ones.  The  offspring  is  first  embraced  in  the  parent, 
and  then  passes  into  an  independent  form.  Reason 
adds  itself  to  instinct,  and  later  crowds  it  out.  In- 
deed, the  existence  of  an  era  of  miracles  and  its  dis- 
appearance under  the  action  of  rational  forces  of 
broader  scope,  is  a  relation  in  harmony  with  evolu- 
tion, unless  we  insist  on  an  evolution  that  excludes 
all  supernatural  forces.  A  miracle  is  milk  for  the 
child  ;  it  belongs  to  a  stage  of  partial  knowledge  and 
obscure  perceptions.  Miracles  can  no  more  take  the 
place  of  rational  insight  than  crutches  of  sound 
limbs,  though  like  crutches  they  may  help  one  on 
the  way  to  health.  The  disposition  to  seek  for 
signs  is  one  implying  the  weakness  of  reason.  As 
the  natural  and  the  supernatural  gain  in  the  mind 
their  true  relation  to  each  other,  as  the  one  is  felt 
to  be  everywhere  permeated  with  the  other,  and  to 
be  its  true  expression,  the  need  of  the  miracle  and 
the  fitness  of  the  miracle  pass  away.  When  knowl- 
edge is  as  yet  incipient,  and  the  mind  is  unable  to 
grasp  firmly  both  its  terms,  the  miracle  may  help  it 
forward  and  open  a  passage  for  truths  that  would 
otherwise  be  lost.  When  the  mind  is  confusedly 
seeking  for  reasons,  like  one  groping  in  darkness, 
even  then  flashes  of  light  have  a  service.     Yet  they 


242       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

are  not  day-light ;  and  like  the  strong  contrasts  of 
early  morning  will  all  disappear  as  the  full  day  ap- 
proaches. The  question  of  miracles  seems  to  be 
one  of  the  admissibility  of  the  partial  and  tran- 
sient in  the  spiritual  world,  a  question  therefore 
at  bottom  one  of  development. 

The  miracle  has  a  far  more  transient  service  than 
the  kindred  fact  of  prayer.  The  one  ministers  to 
general  conviction,  the  other  to  private  faith,  while 
both  involve  the  submission  of  the  natural  to  the 
supernatural.  Plainly,  universal  laws  can  not  be,  and 
are  not,  fortunate  in  all  their  results,  since  they  do 
not  contemplate  specific  cases,  but  general  relations. 
Equally  clearly,  universal  laws  would  lose  all  their 
advantage,  if  they  were  to  be  set  aside  in  behalf  of 
ignorance,  indolence  and  caprice.  Is  it  not,  then, 
plain  that  universal  laws  may  be  advantageously 
handled  by  Supreme  Wisdom  and  Love  in  behalf 
of  diligent  faith,  that  freely  commits  itself  to  this 
Persona]  Presence  ?  To  think  otherwise  is  to  over- 
look spiritual  relations  ;  is  to  give  an  independent 
value  to  the  inflexibility  of  physical  things,  and  an 
importance  to  laws  aside  from  the  purposes  they 
subserve.  This  is  to  submit  higher  spiritual  ends 
to  more  gross  and  physical  ones  ;  is  to  affirm  a  con- 
structive necessity  in  law  beyond  the  purposes  of 
reason.  Reason  does  not  by  one  exercise  in  shap- 
ing law  wave  its  power  and  lock  up  its  wisdom 
forever.  The  superiority  of  reason  as  expressed  in 
reasons,  lies  in  their  flexibility;  its  inferiority  as  ex- 
pressed in  causes  in  their  inflexibility. 

As  the  supernatural  discloses  itself  more  perfectly 


HISTORICAL    PRESUMPTIONS.  243 

in  and  by  and  through  the  natural,  prayer  will  pass 
more  and  more  into  silent  trust  and  wise  diligence  ; 
not  because  intervention  is  felt  to  be  unfitting,  but 
because  the  wisdom  and  grace  of  God  are  felt  to  be 
present  unsolicited,  and  to  be  sufficient  of  them- 
selves without  importunity. 

In  addition  to  the  philosophical  presumptions 
which  run  before  miracles,  there  are  historical  pre- 
sumptions which  follow  after  them.  The  most  irre- 
sistible evidence  against  them  is  the  great  number 
of  them  which  can  endure  no  critical  examination, 
the  undoubted  deception  and  darkness  which  have 
attended  upon  them,  and  the  gross  superstitions 
and  even  vices  which  have  been  strengthened  by 
them.  The  very  great  force  of  this  objection  no 
mind  can  fail  to  feel.  Yet,  carefully  considered, 
these  very  facts  disclose  another  light  falling  upon 
them.  (1)  The  depth  of  the  appeal  which  the  miracle 
makes  to  human  nature  is  seen  in  them.  A  consti- 
tutional tendency  seems  to  be  involved  in  them. 
All  great  movements  must  be  assigned  a  sufficient 
reason.  (2)  It  is  probable  that  some  residuary  facts, 
some  truths,  lie  at  the  bottom  of  phenomena  so 
extended  and  persistent.  Even  spiritualism,  with 
all  its  fooleries,  has  its  disclosures,  its  unknown  and 
subtle  agencies.  (3)  There  is  a  remainder  of  proof 
that  cannot  be  disposed  of  except  as  we  blow  it 
away  by  antecedent  presumptions.  (4)  All  great 
movements  of  the  human  mind,  passing  through  the 
phases  of  development,  are  accompanied  by  errors 
protracted  and  well-nigh  fatal.  Chemistry  is  rooted 
in  alchemy,  astronomy  in  astrology,  civil  liberty  in 


244       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

anarchy.  (5)  While  miracles  have  united  them- 
selves to  the  worst,  they  have  also  united  them- 
selves to  the  very  best  tendencies  prevalent  in  the 
world  ;  Socrates  had  his  familiar  spirit. 

The  presumptions  for  and  against  miracles  will 
wax  and  wane  as  we  draw  near  the  physical  or  spir- 
itual side  of  thought.  They  are  not  such  as  to  settle, 
by  a  critical  canon,  the  history  of  the  world.  This 
history  itself,  as  a  spiritual  evolution  out  of  dark- 
ness into  light,  must  settle  the  miracle.  Very 
plainly  the  movement  will  always  be  away  from  the 
miraculous  to  the  natural,  from  that  which  simply 
signals  a  truth  to  the  truth  itself.  The  quietness 
and  clearness  with  which  the  mind  can  abide  with 
normal  facts  is  the  test  of  spiritual  power.  The  sig- 
nificance of  the  miracle,  having  once  subserved  its 
purpose,  momentarily  declines.  This  very  fact 
makes  a  succeeding  age,  setting  up  its  own  standards 
as  absolute,  incredulous  of  miracles. 

The  words  of  Christ,  by  the  intervention  of  his 
life,  seem  to  be  inextricably  interwoven  with  the 
miraculous.  There  is  in  him  that  fulness  of  the 
natural  and  supernatural  which  is  of  the  very  es- 
sence of  revelation.  Indeed,  without  this  combina- 
tion it  is  not  easy  to  see  how  any  revelation  could 
be  made  which  would  not  lose  its  spiritual  signifi- 
cancy.  If  truth  is  not  effulgence,  effulgence  excel- 
lently becomes  it. 

None  the  less,  the  words  of  Christ  it  is  which  give 
clearness  and  conviction  as  time  advances.  The 
match  may  kindle  the  fuel,  but  the  fuel  glows  with 
its  own  heat   and   light.     The  miracle   simply  hast- 


CHRISTIANITY.  245 

ened  those  spiritual  combinations  of  thought  which 
are  revelation.  The  miracle  has  comparatively  lit- 
tle direct  significance  for  us,  unless  we  allow  it,  as 
in  itself  false,  to  honey-comb  the  intellectual  and 
moral  characters  with  which  it  has  been  associated. 
Nineteen  centuries  render  any  historical  proof 
too  weak  to  bear  the  weight  of  a  strong  rational 
presumption  against  it.  The  miracle  must  fade  into 
distance  ;  to  retain  its  force,  its  merely  miraculous 
proof,  it  must  become  a  perpetual  miracle  ;  and  a 
perpetual  miracle  is  the  suspension  of  reason,  is 
spiritual  syncope.  On  the  other  hand,  truth  as  truth 
gains  force  with  every  century,  disclosing  more  and 
more  the  extension  and  indestructibility  of  its  light. 
The  inner  power  of  the  revelation  has  been  gaining 
ground  on  its  outward  form  with  every  intervening 
century,  till  to-day  our  chief  interest  is  in  not  allow- 
ing the  one  to  weaken  or  contradict  the  other.  We 
are  fearful  lest  the  miracle  misunderstood,  and  con- 
tracting within  itself  an  intellectual  and  spiritual 
opacity,  shall  lie  like  a  veiling  mist  between  us  and 
the  truth.  Revelation  would  thus  become  a  light 
muffled  in  its  own  smoke. 

Christianity  stands  (i)  by  its  perpetual  appeal  to 
the  highest  spiritual  insight  of  the  human  race  ;  (2) 
by  its  power  to  bring  to  those  who  accept  it  the 
purest  personal  discipline  ;  (3)  by  its  own  historic 
force,  as  expressed  in  live  and  actions;  (4)  by  its 
historic  hold  on  human  society  ;  (5)  by  remaining 
to-day,  as  hitherto,  the  most  comprehensive  and 
holiest  truth  offered  to  man.  So  standing  it  carries 
with  it  the  miracle  as  one  spark  struck  out  in  the 


246       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

collision  of  forces,  way  back  in  the  darkness,  that 
helped  to  kindle  this  great  light. 

If,  then,  the  world's  discipline,  in  spite  of  all  de- 
lays and  failures  and  false  steps,  has  been  a  disci- 
pline, abolishing  its  own  feebleness  by  its  own  prog- 
ress, this  fact  most  distinctly  discloses  a  Supreme 
Spiritual  Power,  working  all  things  upward  toward 
itself,  and  disclosing  their  fulness  from  that  supreme 
elevation. 

§9.  Final  causes  are  involved  in  every  discussion 
concerning  the  being  of  God.  Reason  has  two 
movements.  It  traces  effects  backward  through 
causes,  but  it  also  more  immediately  in  its  own 
behalf  rises  above  special  lines  of  causation,  and 
asks:  What  purpose  do  they  singly  and  conjointly 
subserve?  In  what  structure  are  they  framed  to- 
gether? Referring  all  things  to  itself  it  inevitably 
inquires  :  Why  were  they  made  ?  Reason  can  not 
stultify  itself  by  overlooking  this  relation.  It  will 
not  travel  a  road  without  asking  whither  it  leads. 
This  is  perfectly  plain  when  we  deal  with  human 
actions,  the  immediate  and  manifest  products  of 
reason.  If  any  work  of  man  is  before  us,  we  must 
inevitably  put  the  two  inquiries  :  For  what  was  it 
made?  and,  By  what  means  was  it  made? 

Nor  could  we  have  any  interest  in  the  causal  re- 
lations of  the  world  were  it  not  for  the  constructive 
purposes  they  seem  to  us  so  plainly  to  contain,  and 
those  further  purposes  to  which  we  can  ourselves 
put  them.  However  staunchly  we  may  deny  this 
fact,  and  however  carefully  conceal  it  in  language, 
causes  concern   us   because  (1)  they   are   construe- 


FINAL    CAUSES.  247 

tive,  because  (2)  they  can  be  made  still  further  con- 
structive. 

The  world,  as  a  whole,  delights  us  not  by  mere 
magnitude,  but  because  it  is  an  integer ;  because  in- 
tentionally or  accidentally,  with  sufficient  reason  or 
without  reason,  its  immediate  parts  have  relation  to 
each  other,  are  organized  with  each  other  in  the 
fulfilment  of  special  and  general  purposes ;  are  act- 
ually under  the  very  connections  we  indicate  by 
final  causes.  The  more  markedly  is  this  true  as  we 
consider  those  more  narrow  and  complete  integers 
which  make  up  the  organic  world.  We  can  not  dis- 
cuss vegetable,  animal,  rational  life  without  giving 
attention  each  instant  to  the  relation  of  part  with 
part,  and  of  all  parts  to  the  whole  ;  without  inquir- 
ing into  the  purposes  actually  embraced  in  the  sev- 
eral functions  of  the  living  thing. 

The  prejudice  against  final  causes  has  had  some 
justification.  (1)  They  have  been  sought  into  too  di- 
rectly and  too  narrowly.  (2)  They  have  been  sought 
into  to  the  oversight  of  efficient  causes,  of  equal 
importance.  (3)  This  too  hasty  pursuit  has  led  to  a 
very  manifest  neglect  of  the  limitations  put  upon 
ends  by  the  means  involved  in  them.  The  force 
and  sweep  of  law  have  thus  been  lost,  and  replaced 
by  narrow  purposes  sought  directly.  All  this  needs 
correction,  but  it  is  no  correction  to  again  cut  asun- 
der the  rational  process  midwise,  and  to  make  the 
half,  hitherto  neglected,  the  whole. 

Grant  freely  that  the  whole  Cosmos  has  been 
hastily  gathered  up  into  the  fortunes  of  man  by  the 
explanations   of  final  causes ;  grant   freely  that  we 


24S       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

have  hastened  on  to  a  fanciful  or  partial  purpose 
that  things  subserve  before  we  have  understood 
their  structure,  their  past  connections,  their  inherent 
limitations, — and  it  does  not  thence  follow  that  the 
movement  has  been  false,  but  only  that  it  has  been 
ill-proportioned.  Whether  what  seems  to  be  order 
and  service  in  the  world  are  order  and  service,  are 
the  very  questions  involved  in  theism.  But  the 
first  branch  of  the  inquiry,  the  pervasive  presence  of 
order,  science  is  most  diligent  in  unfolding.  Now 
order  means  relation  forward  as  well  as  backward ; 
it  means  forces  that  have  worked  and  are  working 
constructively.  The  one  half  cannot  be  taken  with- 
out the  other  half.  The  path  behind  us  defines  the 
path  before  us,  and  neither  portion  can  be  discussed 
except  in  relation  to  the  other  portion.  It  is  this 
very  reference  of  the  past  to  the  present,  of  the  past 
and  present  to  the  future,  that  forces  upon  us  the 
problem  whose  solution  is  theism.  It  is  the  extent 
and  fundamental  character  of  these  connections  that 
have  so  often  compelled  a  recognition  just  at  the 
close  of  a  destructive  argument,  and  opened  afresh 
the  discarded  relation  under  some  enigmatical  term 
like  the  Unknown. 

Inquiries  into  final  causes,  either  openly  or  in  some 
disguised  form,  are  unavoidable  in  all  large  synthetic 
discussions.  Our  time  has  sheltered  its  prejudice 
and  hidden  from  itself  its  pursuit  of  final  causes  by 
Natural  Selection.  The  theory  of  Natural  Selection 
is  made  up  of  two  parts  of  very  unequal  value.  The 
fit  result  in  any  one  form  of  life  is  reached  by  acci- 
dental variation,  but  this   result,  as    fit   or  fittest,  is 


NATURAL    SELECTION.  249 

at  once  granted  all  the  efficiency  of  a  final  cause, 
well  chosen  and  successfully  attained.  The  first 
step  and  the  most  important  one,  that  of  the  for- 
mation of  favorable  varieties,  is  rapidly  and  ob- 
scurely passed  over ;  while  the  second  step,  which 
follows  simply  as  the  consequence  of  the  first  step, 
and  with  it  involves  the  force  of  final  causes,  re- 
ceives strong  emphasis,  and,  as  the  survival  of  the 
fittest,  becomes  the  gist  of  the  theory.  Even  this 
half  of  the  doctrine  covers  the  facts  in  the  majority 
of  cases  quite  as  well  when  simply  and  clearly  put 
in  the  language  of  final  causes.  Plants  and  animals 
survive  because  they  are  fitted  to  their  conditions. 
This  is  the  primary  fact  ;  the  secondary  fact  is  that 
when  they  push  each  other  on  ground  relatively 
common  to  them,  those  most  fit  win  the  field. 

Take  the  case,  so  often  referred  to,  of  imitation 
among  insects,  an  inoffensive  species  finding  protec- 
tion by  conforming  to  the  marks  of  an  offensive 
species.  This  one  is  supposed  to  approach  the 
other  in  appearance  by  a  protracted  series  of  slight 
changes.  For  this  variation  no  sufficient  reason  is 
given.  The  earlier  stages  of  transition  would  afford 
no  appreciable  advantage,  while  the  chances  against 
a  continuous  series  of  variations  in  the  right  direc- 
tion are  incredibly  great.  So  far  the  reasoning  is 
weak  and  insufficient.  At  the  next  step  the  stolen 
force  of  a  final  cause  comes  in  so  vigorously  as  to 
give  coloring  to  the  whole  argument.  This  purpose 
of  imitation  being  accomplished,  it  cannot  fail  of  the 
results  referred  to  it.  This  it  is  which  is  relied  on 
to  make  both  branches  of  the  argument  acceptable. 


250       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

In  other  words,  the  wisdom  of  a  wise  thing  is  seen 
to  be  wise,  though  the  theory  has  no  light  to  throw 
on  the  way  in  which  that  wisdom  found  entrance. 
This  is  vigorously  rejecting  a  front  entrance  and 
surreptitiously  creeping  in  at  the  one  in  the  rear. 

Here,  then,  is  the  strongest  proof  of  rational  pur- 
poses in  the  world.  We  deny  them  ;  we  set  our 
faces  against  them  ;  we  introduce  a  new  view  to  dis- 
place them.  Yet,  on  careful  analysis,  we  find  that 
view  is  strong  just  so  far  as  it  has  furtively  intro- 
duced them,  and  is  without  light  so  far  as  it  has  re- 
jected them.  Final  causes  involve  theism,  and 
final  causes  are  not  and  cannot  be  escaped  in  any 
comprehensive  inquiry  into  the  structure  of  the 
world.  Even  when  we  are  tracing  exclusively  effi- 
cient causes,  the  entire  light  of  the  process  shines 
upon  it  from  the  manifest  order  and  combination  of 
which  they  are  constituents. 

§  10.  Still  another  inquiry  with  which  modern 
thought  is  busy  involves,  in  yet  a  higher  form,  the 
theistic  idea ;  it  is  that  of  the  philosophy  of  history. 
If  there  is  a  true  philosophy  of  history,  it  is  present 
as  a  supreme  spiritual  product  in  some  way  provided 
for  in  every  part  of  evolution  until  now.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  there  is  no  philosophy  of  history,  or 
only  such  a  philosophy  as  shows  it  to  be  the  mere 
product  of  physical  causes,  the  fact  makes  strongly 
against  any  Spiritual  Presence  in  the  world.  Such 
a  Presence  must  shape  all  things  for  itself,  and  ripen 
all  things  into  a  spiritual  ministration.  The  intel- 
lectual world  is  full  of  this  idea  of  social  develop- 
ment, and  the  study  of  history  has  thereby  gained  a 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    HISTORY.  2$  I 

great  impulse.  Though  we  may  be  compelled  to 
leave  out  of  view  many  tribes,  portions  and  periods 
in  human  history,  there  is,  none  the  less,  on  the  very 
face  of  the  facts,  within  the  narrow  scope  of  historic 
nations,  manifest  development.  Though  the  stream 
winds  its  way  through  extended  marshes,  and  drops 
off  from  time  to  time  into  sluggish  lakes,  it  none  the 
less  has  an  unceasing  onward  current.  In  the  egg, 
the  nucleus  of  life,  though  a  small  part  of  the 
whole,  draws  the  attention.  This  progress  has  been 
referred  to  simply  physical  causes,  and  an  effort  made 
to  construct  a  philosophy  of  history  on  this  basis. 
Its  failure  is  complete.  If  we  were  to  take  periods 
separated  by  a  thousand  years,  and  compare  the 
different  occupants  of  the  same  portions  of  the 
globe,  we  should  find  that  the  uniformity  of  physical 
conditions  had  not  prevented  the  greatest  changes 
in  social  life.  Indeed,  the  modification  of  external 
conditions  of  soil  and  climate,  by  the  altered  hand- 
ling of  different  races,  is  quite  as  obvious  as  the 
effect  of  any  one  set  of  physical  circumstances  on 
national  character.  So  true  is  this,  that  civilization 
has  been  constantly  on  the  move,  and  has  already 
passed  over  a  great  variety  of  physical  conditions. 
No  locality,  by  any  preeminence  of  advantage,  has, 
then,  any  permanent  command  over  civilization  ; 
and  hardly  any  locality,  by  virtue  of  simply  physical 
features,  has  excluded  it  altogether. 

To  this  first  element  of  growth,  then,  there  must 
be  added  one  more  efficacious  than  it — primitive 
traits  of  character  in  nations  and  races.  This  ele- 
ment has  two  forms  of  expression,  national  character 


252        PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

and  individual  character.  The  tribe  first  springs 
from  the  individual,  and  then  the  nation  is  built 
about  the  tribe.  A  few  ancestors  are  able  to  im- 
press their  characteristics  on  the  protracted  history 
of  a  great  people.  Abraham  and  Jacob  survive  in 
the  Israelites  of  many  hundred  years.  But  national 
character  holds  the  prevailing  tendency  in  a  dilute 
form.  Single  persons  are  sure  to  arise  having  the 
predominant  type  in  a  more  clear  and  vigorous  way. 
These,  both  by  agreement  and  disagreement,  imme- 
diately become  leaders,  and  push  forward  the  na- 
tional advance.  It  is  to  national  character,  as  the 
germ  of  all  dormant  possibilities,  that  the  external 
conditions  address  themselves;  and  these  conditions 
no  more  call  forth  growth,  without  the  seeds  of 
growth,  than  a  soil  begets  its  own  flora.  It  is  by  the 
first  forces,  and  by  the  constant  nourishment  of  indi- 
vidual character,  that  national  character  is  initiated 
and  maintained.  These  two,  physical  conditions  and 
national  characteristics,  are  the  relatively  fixed  terms 
in  development. 

But  progress  itself  gives  new  and  changeable  con- 
ditions. On  the  one  side  is  inheritance,  physical 
and  moral,  as  a  variable  law,  the  present  passing  into 
the  future  with  many  secondary  changes  ;  and  on 
the  other,  there  is  history,  the  violent  action  of  race 
upon  race  in  conquest,  and  in  the  subjection  of  na- 
tions or  parts  of  nations  to  new  conditions  of  civil- 
ization, language,  and  religion,  and  also  the  peace- 
ful extension  of  these  several  influences  from  country 
to  country  along  the  lines  of  intercourse. 

Evidently    we   have    in    these     very   changeable 


HISTORICAL    GROWTH.  253 

agents  grounds  for  very  conflicting  and  apparently 
fortuitous  results.  The  progress  achieved  must  be 
one  which  slowly  thrusts  aside  accidents,  and  com- 
pacts in  itself  leading  tendencies.  Of  these  few  ele- 
ments of  growth,  the  more  primitive,  interior  and 
inscrutable  are  character  and  variability  in  inheri- 
tance, and  these  receive  the  less  attention  ;  while 
physical  conditions  and  historical  changes  are  more 
manifest,  and  correspondingly  attract  the  eye.  Yet 
these  are  only  the  opportunities  of  which  the  more 
secret  energies  of  moral  life  avail  themselves. 

That  these  very  shifting  and,  in  their  passing 
forms,  apparently  accidental  combinations  have 
wrought  true  growth  among  spiritual  things,  as  cer- 
tainly so  as  the  vacillating  movement  of  the  sea- 
sons among  organic  things,  is  so  evident  and  at 
present  so  often  enforced,  as  hardly  to  call  for  par- 
ticularization.  (i)  This  development  is  indicated 
not  simply  by  the  rapid  growth  of  knowledge,  but 
still  more  by  its  increased  serviceableness  to  the 
mass  of  men.  Man's  present  mastery  of  the  world, 
the  amount  of  labor  laid  by  him  upon  natural 
agents,  are  incomparably  greater  than  ever  before. 
This  movement  of  amelioration  has  now  extended 
through  so  many  nations,  and  over  so  large  a  part  of 
the  earth's  surface  ;  it  has  gathered  the  strength  of 
the  world  so  completely  within  itself,  as  to  be  ex- 
posed no  longer  to  any,  the  slightest,  danger  aris- 
ing beyond  its  own  domain.  Barbarous  tribes  are 
quite  powerless  in  the  presence  of  enlightened  na- 
tions. 

The  press,  as  a  means   of  increasing  knowledge, 


254       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

and  the  newspaper  press,  as  a  means  of  dissemina- 
ting it,  do  not  simply  make  loss  and  retrogression 
impossible ;  they  give  a  rapidity  of  movement  to 
human  thought  wholly  novel  in  the  world's  history. 
Nothing  but  an  inner  decay  of  human  powers  can 
now  arrest  this  movement.  (2)  Social  construction, 
social  institutions  and  estimates,  are  keeping  pace 
with  this  knowledge.  The  wrongs  in  society  are 
being  redressed  ;  its  wounds  are  being  healed  ;  its 
unjust  inequalities  are  being  removed.  All  are  enter- 
ing more  freely  into  their  share  of  the  common  in- 
heritance ;  and  thus  the  danger  of  internal  rupture,  far 
greater  than  that  of  external  violence,  is  giving  way. 
Much,  indeed,  remains  to  be  done,  both  along  the 
lines  of  justice  and  good-will.  But  the  right  move- 
ment has  been  initiated,  and  it  is  already  clear,  decis- 
ive, and  successful.  A  social  organization  just,  fortu- 
nate, considerate,  and  solid  is  becoming  an  ever  en- 
larging fact.  (3)  These  gains  all  culminate  in  and  are 
sustained  by  true  spiritual  development.  The  move- 
ment at  this  point,  though  comprehensive  and  fun- 
damental, is  less  conspicuous  than  changes  more  ex- 
terior. Spiritual  life  is  preeminently  personal  and 
independent,  and  those  things  which  are  accepted 
as  its  external  marks  are  peculiarly  illusory. 
This  independence  and  personality,  which  are  its 
essential  conditions,  are  every  day  enlarged  for  it. 
It  deals  directly  and  freely  with  the  highest  ques- 
tions. These  topics  are  before  the  minds  of  men  in 
their  full  breadth,  and  are  treated  with  a  thorough- 
ness, interest,  and  extension  of  inquiry  quite  un- 
usual.    The  unsatisfactoriness   of  the  results  often 


TRUE    EVOLUTION.  2$5 

reached  is  not  a  material  abatement  of  the  value  of 
this  fact  of  enlarged  discussion.  A  certain  dead- 
ness  of  dogma  gives  a  sense  of  strength  and  security 
quite  deceptive. 

It  belongs  also  to  spiritual  life  to  express  itself 
in  human  sympathies  and  charity.  These  sympa- 
thies and  charities  are  its  most  priceless  product. 
Individual  good-will,  the  watchfulness  of  nations 
over  all  their  own,  justice  and  integrity  between  na- 
tions, are  on  the  gain.  Not  only  were  spiritual 
ideas  never  more  clearly  discerned  than  now  ;  they 
have  never  been  more  efficacious  in  drawing  out  hu- 
man affections. 

This  growth  has  all  the  features  of  a  true  evolu- 
tion, (i)  Each  step  has  been  joined  in  a  real  se- 
quence with  preceding  ones.  Our  civilization  and 
our  faith  send  down  tap-roots  to  the  earliest  stratum 
in  the  historic  period.  (2)  This  progress  has,  in 
each  stage,  retained  the  gains  of  previous  times- 
Jewish  theism  is  our  faith,  Grecian  art  our  culture, 
Roman  law  our  law.  Far  more  than  this,  the  slow 
composition  of  nations,  which  began  away  back  in 
the  great  monarchies  of  the  East,  and  which  found 
a  second  acceleration  in  the  middle  ages  in  Europe, 
has  yielded  those  bonds  of  strength  which  hold  us 
together.  (3)  This  growth  is  not  merely  serial ;  it 
has  formed  itself  about  one  axis,  one  spiritual  un- 
folding, increasingly  pure  and  extended.  Theism  has 
given  it  a  moral  unity,  which  has  united  in  impulse 
all  its  ministrations,  especially  in  their  bearings  on 
the  common  mind.  Without  this  prevailing  idea, 
nothing  continuous  or  permanent  would  have  been 


256       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

reached.  This  was  the  predominant  impulse  which 
ancient  life  yielded  to  modern  life,  and  this  the  force 
that  built  the  new  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  old.  The 
history  of  theism  is  inseparable  from  that  of  civili- 
zation, and  increasingly  as  the  ages  advanced. 

In  the  middle  Roman  development  a  very  gen- 
eral, sagacious  and  searching  scepticism  prevailed.  It 
served  rather  to  break  down  effete  systems  and  clear 
the  way  for  a  purer  theism,  than  to  resist  its  prog- 
ress. The  dominant  thought  of  Christianity  be- 
came the  constructive  agency  of  society  amid  the 
dissolving  mists  of  mythology.  Again,  in  the  fif- 
teenth and  sixteenth  centuries,  Christianity  had  be- 
come so  hidden  beneath  the  debris  of  barbarism 
that  its  spiritual  life  seemed  about  to  be  smothered. 
Scepticism  and  fanaticism,  immorality  and  piety, 
grew  rankly  side  by  side.  The  purer  life  of  the  past 
was  deeply  buried  under  this  alluvial  drift.  Yet 
concealed  germs  here  and  there  began  to  push,  and 
took  on  the  new  vigor  of  the  Reformation.  The 
scepticism  of  our  own  time,  in  harmony  with  this 
historic  development,  can  only  issue  in  a  still  further 
purification  and  triumph  of  theism.  Any  other 
result  would  not  be  continuation,  but  overthrow. 

(4)  Akin  with  this  continuity  of  growth  has  been 
its  increasing  generality.  In  the  Roman  period  and 
earlier,  civilization  and  power  tended  to  gather  into 
one  race  or  one  nation  ;  or  if  separated  into  two  na- 
tions, the  equilibrium  was  unstable.  Now  there  are 
many  relatively  equal  nations,  many  types  of  civili- 
zation, and  all  are  quietly  held  in  one  system.  This 
separation  of  enlightened  nations  into  independent 


TRUE    EVOLUTION.  257 

integers  is  a  fact  of  the  utmost  moment.  The  ac- 
tions and  reactions  of  intellectual  and  social  life  are 
greatly  multiplied.  Questions  of  social  construc- 
tion, of  justice  and  morality,  arise  in  many  quarters, 
find  many  terms  of  solution,  and  pass  with  corre- 
sponding rapidity  to  their  fullest  answer.  This 
division  of  life  is  on  a  grand  scale,  like  the  special 
senses,  special  organs  and  special  powers  which 
gather  together  and  sustain  each  other  in  the  human 
body.  It  is  a  fact  which  discloses  the  progress  al- 
ready made,  and  hastens  it  onward. 

(5)  This  growth,  like  all  growth,  takes  in  both  ele- 
ments, fixed  physical  conditions  and  predominant 
plastic  powers — the  natural  and  the  supernatural. 
The  plastic  powers,  the  constructive  ideas,  have 
found  expression  and  application  chiefly  through  the 
individual.  There  is  a  spirit  in  man,  and  the  inspir- 
ation of  the  Almighty  giveth  them  understanding. 
Those  who  have  been  truly  efficient  in  guiding  and 
shaping  growth  have  been  those  who,  in  one  way  or 
another,  have  had  a  large  measure  of  spiritual  life; 
who  have  felt  the  unity  of  truth,  and  so  have  worked 
under  that  unity.  Every  great  spirit  remains  a  term 
not  covered  by  simply  physical  inheritance,  but  one 
gathered  into  the  higher  lineage  of  the  divine  life. 
Just  at  these  points  the  electric  circuits  of  truth  are 
turned,  even  for  the  ordinary  eye,  into  electric 
light. 

11  Genius,"  says  the  historian,  Ranke,  "  is  an  inde- 
pendent gift  of  God  ;  whether  it  is  allowed  to  expand 
or  not  depends  on  the  receptivity  and  taste  of  its 
contemporaries." 


258       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

Thus  it  becomes  a  supreme  question,  in  reference 
to  any  place  and  any  period,  Shall  he  find  faith  ? 
Faith  is  no  other  than  higher  truth  so  closely  held 
as  to  be  productive  of  its  appropriate  spiritual  emo- 
tions, while  these,  in  turn,  give  the  conditions  of 
still  deeper  insight.  In  other  words,  faith  is  the 
true  growing  point,  involving  at  once  the  most 
manifest  and  the  most  subtle  agencies  by  which  the 
lower  intellectual  life  passes  into  a  higher  spiritual 
unfolding  ;  by  which  the  mind  penetrates  to  and  is 
quickened  by  the  Spiritual  Presence  of  the  world. 
Of  all  things  hanging  in  the  sunlight,  the  leaf  alone 
is  each  instant  in  recognition  of  its  forces,  and  build- 
ing up  new  products  by  means  of  them.  Thus  does 
mind,  duly  open  in  thought  and  affection  to  Mind  ; 
make  the  second  transition  by  which  the  narrow, 
the  hard,  the  obscure,  the  selfish  in  life,  pass  into  the 
broad,  the  gracious,  the  clear,  the  pure  ;  into  light 
and  love,  the  constructive  elements  of  that  one 
Presence  which  makes  the  spiritual  world.  One  door 
opens  into  it,  yet  a  door  at  which  all  paths  con- 
verge. That  history  is  not  a  hopeless  riddle,  and 
that  its  solutions  lie  in  this  higher  faith,  are  facts 
which  thoughtful  minds  are  recognizing  in  one  or 
another  direction,  with  one  or  another  degree  of  ful- 
ness. The  only  explanation  of  human  life  is  a  life 
yet  higher,  and  a  higher  life  demands  a  medium  in 
which  it  can  move.  This  Pure  Presence  is  as  certain 
under  the  integral  order  of  things  as  are  the  im- 
pulses it  gathers  up,  harmonizes  and  unfolds.  The 
spiritual,  understood  as  the  spiritual,  used  as  the 
spiritual,  will  no  more  let  us  step  abruptly,  moving 


TRUE    EVOLUTION.  259 

forward,  than  will  the  causal,  moving  backward.  We 
move  backward  under  the  one  impulse,  simply  and 
singly  because  we  receive  more  constructive  light. 
We  move  forward  under  the  other  impulse  for  the 
same  reason — more  light.  Light  is  the  only  justifi- 
cation of  vision,  and  is  the  sufficient  justification  of 
all  vision  ;  and  this  equally  whether  it  shines  on  the 
way  behind  or  before  us.  Happy  is  he  who  con- 
demns not  himself  in  that  thing  which  he  alloweth. 
The  eternal  consistency  of  part  with  part  is  equally 
the  revelation  of  science  and  religion.  Mind  is  the 
source  of  light  in  the  intellectual  world.  Theism 
enthrones  mind,  and  so  becomes  the  largest  disclos- 
ure of  truth.  There  is  darkness  left,  but  it  is  dark- 
ness far  back  compared  with  the  darkness  that  en- 
closes any  simply  physical  theory  of  the  world,  and 
of  human  life  in  it. 

In  summing  up  this  argument,  it  is  to  be  remem- 
bered that  strict  evolution  gains  ground  by  distract- 
ing the  eye,  and  directing  it  to  a  multitude  of  de- 
tached cases  capable  of  a  plausible  presentation.  Its 
failures  are  apparent  only  when  the  whole  field  is  con- 
sidered in  its  great  spaces.  Theism,  on  the  other 
hand,  gains  with  every  extension  of  vision.  Its  con- 
vergences are  increasingly  grand,  and  carry  with 
them  rapidly  the  accumulating  proof  of  concur- 
rence. 

The  eternity  of  matter  in  evolution  is  impossible; 
from  the  beginning  it  bears  the  stamp  of  mind  in 
its  simplest  elements ;  these  elements  in  quality, 
affinities,  and  quantities,  are  constructive.  Life,  a 
new  term,  takes  up  the  work  in  two  forms.     All 


260       PROOF    FOUND    IN    THE    RATIONAL    KINGDOM. 

these  agencies,  with  a  precision  reaching  to  every 
attribute  and  every  relation,  are  built  into  one 
world  ;  its  several  parts  mount  up  to  one  throne  ; 
and  on  this  throne  appears  intellectual  life  ;  and  this 
life  fulfils  its  purposes  only  as  it  passes  into  spirit- 
ual life.  This  one  ultimate  product  includes  all  and 
explains  all ;  and  this  product  implies,  seeks,  and 
thrives  in  the  light  of  Divine  Life. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE    PROOFS    OF    THE    GOODNESS    OF    GOD. 

§  I.  The  proof  of  the  goodness  of  God  is  closely 
united  to  that  of  his  being.  If  God  is,  he  is  most 
certainly  infinite  in  power  and  complete  in  wisdom. 
While  the  Universe  is  a  finite  product,  and  under  the 
idea  of  causation  only  involves  finite  causes,  under 
that  of  personal  potentiality,  it  plainly  implies  un- 
measurable  scope  in  thought  and  execution.  The 
proof  at  this  point  could  not  be  increased.  Any 
additions  whatever  to  the  Universe  must  escape 
our  observation,  as  its  present  limits  are  quite  be- 
yond our  knowledge.  The  wisdom  and  power  of 
God  are  capable  of  no  higher  proof  by  the  mere 
aggregation  of  results.  If  there  is  nothing  in  the 
work  itself  which  forbids  the  supposition,  these  two 
attributes  are  made  plain. 

But  if  God  is,  and  is  complete  in  power  and  wis- 
dom, he  must  also  be  perfect  in  goodness.  Com- 
plete wisdom  must,  by  an  intellectual  and  moral 
necessity,  carry  with  it  perfect  goodness.  The  ma- 
levolent being  is  not  wise  either  in  reference  to  him- 
self or  to  others.  That  goodness  is  the  ripeness  of 
wisdom,    that  it    is   the    final   fruit    of    reason,    are 

261 


262     THE  PROOFS  OF  THE  GOODNESS  OF  GOD. 

more  and  more  evident  with  each  advance  of 
thought.  This  dependence  is  one  which  lies  in  the 
constitution  of  reason,  and  hence  of  the  Divine 
Reason.  The  least  measure  of  malice  would  be  a 
flaw  in  the  divine  wisdom,  as  well  as  in  the  divine 
goodness.  This  dependence  being  so  fundamental, 
all  reasons  against  the  divine  beneficence  make  di- 
rectly and  strongly  against  the  divine  existence. 
Not  only  would  every  rational  being  be  reluctant  to 
accept  the  proof  for  the  existence  of  a  being  omnipo- 
tent and  omniscient  without  perfect  goodness ;  the 
inner  incongruity  of  the  conception  would  be  the 
strongest  reason  against  it.  We  must,  therefore, 
weigh  carefully  the  evidence  for  the  goodness  of 
God,  both  for  the  attribute  itself,  and  for  its  relation 
to  the  general  proof  of  his  being. 

In  considering  this  evidence,  there  are  several  im- 
portant antecedent  points  touching  our  own  powers 
of  apprehension  and  appreciation.  (1)  We  stand 
comparatively  at  the  beginning  of  a  great  system, 
and  are  not,  therefore,  in  a  fortunate  position  to 
pronounce  upon  it  as  a  whole.  It  is  the  later,  higher, 
more  purely  moral  stage  of  the  development  which 
must  settle  its  value.  The  moral  movement  is  as 
yet  incipient.  Evils,  difficulties,  and  delays  cluster 
about  its  opening  eras,  while  its  great  gains,  its 
facile  growth,  its  overwhelming  compensations,  lie  in 
the  future,  a  future  too  remote  and  too  alien  for  our 
complete  anticipation.  We  are  now  judging  the 
entire  day  by  the  coldness,  darkness,  and  discomfort 
of  the  early  morning.  There  is  time  enough  and 
there  is  growth  enough   before  the  world  to  sweep 


ANTECEDENT    DIFFICULTIES.  263 

into  utter  oblivion  this  waywardness   and  these  suf- 
ferings of  its  ill-ordered  youth. 

(2)  Nor  are  we  comprehensive  and  wise  judges 
of  moral  discipline,  or  of  its  proper  terms,  when 
ordered  on  this  grand  scale.  The  haste  and  failure 
of  most  human  training  show  this.  We  strive  in 
one  way  or  another  to  crowd  moral  growth,  to 
put  physical  forces  and  intellectual  coercion  into  it, 
and  the  results,  with  sudden  revolt,  betray  us. 
There  is  as  yet  but  very  little  proximately  wise  dis- 
cipline among  men,  and  but  few  men,  therefore, 
who  are  safe  judges  either  of  its  methods  or  ends. 
The  goodness  of  God  which  comes  under  our  criti- 
cism is  not  passion,  is  not  mere  love,  but  wise 
love.  The  guiding  agency  is  wisdom  ;  goodness  is 
simply  the  impulse  that  works  under  it.  As  the  ex- 
tent in  space,  as  the  survey  in  time,  which  come 
within  the  divine  plan,  greatly  transcend  our 
thoughts  ;  as  the  wisdom  with  which  these  parts 
are  united  under  a  controlling  purpose  often  es- 
capes us,  unusual  diffidence  should  belong  to  us  in 
our  judgments  on  the  divine  love.  The  larger 
share  of  this  love,  with  the  larger  share  of  its 
methods,  must,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  be  hid- 
den from  us  ;  and  when  the  love  is  hidden,  the  in- 
cident evils  crowd  the  vision  and  become  clamorous. 
These  evils  touching  us  and  our  friends,  unillumi- 
nated  by  ulterior  light,  will  seem  to  us  very  real  and 
very  dark,  and  our  judgments,  at  best  possessed  of 
narrow  and  vacillating  force,  will  be  beaten  about 
like  vessels  laboring  in  the  storm.  It  is  in  some 
sense  a  preposterous  thing  for  us,  in  our  finiteness, 


264  THE    PROOFS    OF    THE    GOODNESS    OF    GOD. 

to  sit  in  confident  judgment  on  the  divine  grace, 
moving  with  measureless  scope  through  immense 
periods  ;  not  that  the  divine  government  needs  pro- 
tection from  criticism,  but  that  we  need  protection 
against  hasty  censure.  If  we  are  wise  we  shall  de- 
cide these  questions  by  prevailing  tendencies,  by 
the  large  sweep  of  events  whose  outline  we  can  fol- 
low. We  shall  then  suffer  the  light  slowly  to  dis- 
perse and  swallow  up  the  heavy  masses  of  shadow 
that  still  fill  our  horizon. 

(3)  We  ourselves  are  pressed  by  this  discipline, 
are  more  or  less  reluctant  parties  to  it,  would  be 
willing  to  substitute  fiat  blessings  of  some  sort  for 
the  natural  fruits  of  intelligence  and  virtue,  are 
still  possessed  with  the  notion  that  this  is  in  some 
degree  possible,  and  the  very  best  of  us  at  times 
feel  painfully  the  unremitting  demands  of  grace. 
The  heart  of  man  is  but  slightly  won  over  to  disin- 
terested love.  Virtue  is,  therefore,  still  to  it  as  an 
ebbing  tide.  For  the  time  being  it  seems  to  draw 
down  its  resources  of  pleasure,  and  to  be  waiting  for 
a  new  conjunction  of  forces,  before  it  shall  come 
flowing  back  upon  the  soul  of  man  with  the  vigor  of 
a  world-wide  movement.  We  are  too  immediate 
and  too  reluctant  parties  in  the  divine  method, 
pressing  us  under  weighty  conditions  of  life,  to  be 
perfectly  fair  judges  of  the  things  about  us.  It  re- 
quires unusual  purging  of  the  eye,  and  quelling  of 
the  heart,  to  decide  whether  the  progress  of  events 
is  gracious  or  otherwise.  Even  if  no  particular  pres- 
sure of  danger  is  disclosed  along  our  own  narrow 
path,  unwise  and  petulant   sympathies   may  easily 


GENERAL    CONSIDERATIONS.  265 

mislead  the  judgment.  The  outside  trials  of  men 
are  so  much  more  penetrable  than  their  inside  ex- 
periences, that  compassion  becomes  with  us  a  chief 
perverting  agency. 

There  are  some  general  considerations  which  must 
be  present  to  our  thoughts  before  we  can  speak 
safely  about  the  discipline  of  the  world.  It  must 
be  judged  under  the  light  of  its  own  prevailing  idea. 
Read  otherwise,  it  is  misread,  and  filled  with  the 
confusion  of  the  mind  that  interprets  it.  We  must 
accept  and  expound  the  history  of  the  world  as  a 
moral  discipline.  It  is  on  this  basis  that  the  ques- 
tion of  the  goodness  of  God  arises,  and  on  this 
basis  it  must  be  settled.  It  is  not  a  question  of 
pleasure  simply,  but  one  of  training,  one  of  growth, 
one  of  spiritual  evolution.  It  is  not,  therefore,  a 
question  of  the  past,  or  of  the  past  and  present, 
but  of  the  past,  present  and  future  ;  one  to  be  de- 
cided by  the  scope  of  the  entire  movement,  and 
preeminently  by  its  ultimate  results.  Growth  is 
the  initial  word,  the  prevailing  word,  the  final 
word.  All  that  is  requisite  to  moral  growth  is 
admissible  ;  all  that  interferes  with  moral  growth  is 
inadmissible,  no  matter  under  what  disguises  of 
pleasure  it  may  appear.  God  gives  us  a  rehearsal 
of  his  own  government  in  the  wise  training  of  a 
child.  Human  love  we  find  daily  failing  on  the  side 
of  leniency ;  the  failure  is  none  the  less  a  failure. 
The  thing  to  be  won  by  training  is  true,  simple, 
Strong  manhood.  Kindness  that  feeds  exaction  is 
fruit  flung  to  a  beggar.  That  moral  growth  is  the 
fundamental  idea   of  the  world  is  seen  in  the  fact 


266     THE  PROOFS  OF  THE  GOODNESS  OF  GOD. 

that  on  this  point  of  integrity,  as  enclosing  good- 
will, turns  the  whole  moral  controversy  concerning 
the  character  of  God.  This  is  the  gist  of  the  ques- 
tion :  Is  God  perfectly  good  ?  It  requires,  there- 
fore, no  distinct  proof  that  the  question  must  be 
answered  in  its  own  light. 

This  end  of  moral  life  involves  some  things  and 
excludes  some  things,  (i)  It  can  not  be  lifted  off  a 
moral  basis.  It  is  put  on  this  basis,  and  must  be 
kept  there.  No  matter  how  slow  the  moral  move- 
ment may  be,  it  can  not  be  supplemented  by  a  physi- 
cal push.  This  is  to  mar  all.  Moral  evolution 
accepts  the  tardy  steps  of  experience,  insight, 
choice,  responsibility,  and  it  must  stand  unwaver- 
ingly by  them.  Any  haste  to  get  beyond  them  is 
really  to  fall  behind  them — is  to  finish  a  house  by 
magic  which  we  undertook  to  erect  under  natural 
law.  Sin  must  remain  sin  in  its  moral  estimate 
and  moral  fruits,  and  must  rest  wirh  the  sinner. 
That  which  is  avoidable  is  not  to  be  thought  of  or 
spoken  of  as  if  it  were  unavoidable.  Accepting  a 
moral  system,  we  accept  the  responsibility  of  all 
the  parties  to  it,  and  this  responsibility  is  a  limit  to 
the  responsibility  of  Him  who,  in  wisdom,  ordains 
the  moral  discipline.  Sin  and  evil,  as  liabilities  of 
the  system,  are  accepted  when  the  system  is  ac- 
cepted, and  are  not  afterward  in  themselves  simply 
to  be  offered  as  an  objection.  Responsibilities  are 
capable  of  division  and  apportionment  in  a  moral 
system,  and  do  not  sweep  everywhere  and  mar  all 
participants.  The  sin  finds  real  arrest  in  the  sin- 
ner,  and  its  moral  pressure  is  at  this  point  only. 


GENERAL    CONSIDERATIONS.  267 

The  way  in  which,  in  the  discipline  of  our  chil- 
dren, we  further  and  we  check  the  moral  unfolding 
by  personal  pressure,  serves  to  separate  our  training 
from  the  far  more  general  training  of  the  world  at 
large,  and  causes  us  to  judge  the  latter  dispara- 
gingly, (a)  Much  of  this  interference  is  ill-advised 
and  unsuccessful.  (I?)  So  far  as  it  is  well-advised 
and  successful,  it  is  contemplated  under  the  larger 
schooling ;  is  the  margin  left  for  annotation,  (c) 
The  generality  of  conditions  carries  with  it'  gener- 
ality of  method.     This  relation  is  involved  in  law. 

(2)  A  moral  system,  as  a  wise  discipline,  includes 
laws  bo'.h  broad  and  fixed  ;  and  the  evils  incident  to 
them,  if  the  laws  themselves  are  well  taken,  give  no 
item  of  accusation.  Reason  remains  reason,  though 
we  are  wading  in  deep  waters ;  premises  must,  in 
spite  of  our  sufferings,  be  allowed  to  carry  with  them 
their  conclusions.  Having  accepted  the  one,  we 
have  accepted  the  other.  We  must  not  repeat 
against  results  the  objections  which  have  not 
availed  against  the  constructive  causes.  The  good- 
ness and  fitness  of  moral  law  being  conceded,  its 
utmost  consequences  are  embraced  in  the  conces- 
sion. It  is  mere  weakness  of  nerve  not  to  carry 
through  the  wise  method. 

This  conception  of  moral  discipline  as  a  means  to 
moral  life,  itself  approved  in  its  own  light  as  the 
highest  attainable  object,  well  worth  any  needful 
sacrifice,  shuts  out  the  notions  of  happiness  and  jus- 
tice— which  is  only  the  equalizing  of  the  conditions 
of  happiness  between  man  and  man — as  offering  a 
sufficient  test  of  the  world's  training.     Utilitarian- 


268     THE  PROOFS  OF  THE  GOODNESS  OF  GOD. 

ism  through  one  of  its  great  masters,  J.  S.  Mill,  af- 
firms that  the  course  of  nature  is  full  of  cruelty  and 
injustice.  This  is  an  affirmation  quite  in  order  un- 
der an  ethical  philosophy  that  makes  happiness  the 
supreme  test,  and  which  overlooks  the  prevailing 
idea  of  moral  discipline.  If  one,  out  of  sympathy 
with  the  inner  life  of  virtue,  were  to  criticise  the 
wisest  training  of  a  parent,  whose  conduct  rested  on 
a  notion  of  right,  he  would  almost  inevitably  think 
it  both  cruel  and  unjust.  Moral  discipline,  judged 
in  reference  to  pleasure,  can  hardly  escape  censure, 
for  it  designedly  throws  pleasure  into  the  back- 
ground. The  criticism,  therefore,  is  instantly  met 
with  the  denial  that  pleasure,  and  the  apportion- 
ment of  pleasures  termed  justice,  are  the  ends 
sought  for  in  wise  schooling.  The  moral  discipline 
of  the  world,  like  that  of  the  family,  admits  suffer- 
ing freely,  admits  inequalities  of  pleasures  and  of  suf- 
ferings freely,  and  asks  but  one  question  :  Do  these 
pains  and  diversities  minister  to  growth  as  its  neces- 
sary concomitants  ?  This  answered  in  the  affirma- 
tive, pleasure  is  freely  set  aside,  pain  freely  enters, 
and  the  formal  divisions  of  justice  are  pronounced 
inapplicable.  One  justification,  and  one  only,  is 
sought  for  every  measure — that  contained  in  growth. 
Not  to  institute  the  best  conditions  of  growth 
deterred  by  tenderness,  is  unkind;  to  institute  them 
is  both  wise  and  kind.  Justice  is  an  idea  ap- 
plicable between  equals,- — between  man  and  man, — 
and  not  one  fitted  to  control  the  discipline  which 
superior  intelligence  brings  to  inferior  intelligence. 
Efficiency  is  here  the  ruling  consideration. 


LAWS.  269 

This  moral  method  also  excludes  the  action  of 
mere  power  as  power  in  the  pursuit  of  moral  ends. 
With  a  strange  narrowness  of  thought,  this  argu- 
ment of  power  is  used  against  the  divine  grace,  as  if 
it  were  one  of  overwhelming  import.  It  runs  thus: 
Infinite  Goodness  would  wish  the  world  to  be  per- 
fect ;  Infinite  Power  could  make  it  perfect.  As  it  is 
manifestly  not  perfect,  either  there  is  no  God,  or  God 
is  not  perfect  in  power  and  goodness.  If  we  check 
our  fleet  steps  for  an  instant  to  define  perfection,  and 
settle  its  relations  to  growth  ;  to  define  power,  and 
to  see  how  far  virtue  is  dependent  on  it,  our  conclu- 
sions vanish  at  once.  The  first  point  has  been  suffi- 
ciently covered  already.  There  is  no  perfect  condi- 
tion for  a  moral  being  save  that  involved  in  virtue ; 
while  virtue  includes  growth,  and  growth  implies 
these  apparent  imperfections.  The  second  point  is 
still  more  simple.  Power  is  not  the  ability  to  do  all 
things,  but  only  to  do  those  capable  of  being  done. 
Power  has  a  nature  and  limits  of  its  own.  It  in- 
volves the  ability  of  shaping  external,  physical  con- 
ditions. Power  cannot  alter  the  laws  of  mind  ;  it 
cannot  reach  new  conclusions  while  the  premises  re- 
main the  same.  Power  does  not  annex  conclusions 
to  premises ;  this  is  the  office  of  reason.  Power  can 
no  more  transcend  its  own  nature  than  can  wisdom 
or  virtue.  It  can  do  what  belongs  to  it  to  do,  and 
no  more.  Now,  virtue  is  independent  of  power ;  the 
two  do  not  cover  the  same  field.  Power  does  not 
extend  to  virtue.  A  virtuous  world  is  not  the  prod- 
uct of  mere  power.  The  underlying  weakness  of 
Utilitarianism  exposes  itself  in  the  confident  way  in 


27O  THE    PROOFS    OF    THE    GOODNESS    OF    GOD. 

which  it  advances  this  argument.  God  can  make  a 
happy  world,  a  perfect  world  when  happiness  and 
perfection  mean  physical  and  not  spiritual  pleas- 
ures ;  but  to  make  such  a  world  would  be  a  retreat 
from  moral  life  into  well-balanced  animal  life.  If 
we  keep  these  limitations  involved  in  the  inner  rela- 
tions of  reason  in  view,  the  mercy  of  God  will  cer- 
tainly appear  so  plain  as  to  add  to  the  force  of  the 
argument  for  his  existence. 

§  2.  (1)  The  world  is  governed  everywhere  by  laws  , 
and  these  laws  are  all  constructive,  are  all  in  their 
primary  force  beneficent.  With  a  few  exceptions, 
of  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak,  all  would 
readily  admit  the  assertion.  It  has  been  and  is  the 
great  enthusiasm  of  science  to  illustrate  and  enforce 
it.  Yet  it  is  a  fact  of  the  utmost  moral  import,  since 
it  expresses  at  least  a  prevailing  benignant  purpose, 
which  even  no  passing  mood  of  malevolence  has 
modified.  Many  evils,  indeed,  follow  in  the  train  of 
law ;  yet  law  itself  has  reference  to  order  and  well- 
being,  and  is  only  the  more  forced  on  the  attention  of 
rational  beings  by  these  very  calamities.  The  laws 
which  govern  fire,  water,  steam,  render  the  action  of 
these  powerful  agents  in  the  highest  degree  service- 
able, though  carelessness  may  kindle  a  conflagration, 
or  leave  a  reservoir  to  be  broken,  or  a  boiler  to  be 
exploded.  The  laws  which  control  seasons,  rains, 
and  floods,  admit  of  much  devastation  ;  yet  on  these 
laws  turn  the  fertility  of  the  world,  the  variety  and 
beauty  in  the  progress  of  nature,  the  tests  of  skill 
and  foresight  in  man.  A  more  mechanical  adjust- 
ment, a  more  equal  distribution,  would  wholly  alter 


LAWS.  271 

both  the  form  and  force  of  law,  would  carry  un- 
thought  of  modifications  everywhere,  and,  if  produc- 
tive of  some  advantages,  would  as  certainly  be  at- 
tended by  great  losses.  The  chance-element  which 
now  enters  into  human  life,  by  virtue  of  the  ex- 
tended and  unforeseen  interaction  of  various  laws, 
plays  in  discipline  almost  as  significant  a  part  as  the 
fixed  terms.  A  nature  that  came  round  in  its  min- 
istration at  fixed  intervals  in  fixed  ways,  like  a  gar- 
dener with  his  watering-pot,  would  bring  with  it 
unspeakable  loss  to  man's  higher  nature.  Such  a 
world  would  become  to  him  what  labor  is  in  a  fac- 
tory, with  its  hated  precision  and  intolerable  routine. 
It  still  remains  to  be  shown  that  the  laws  of  the 
world,  either  singly  or  collectively,  can,  in  reference 
to  a  large  beneficence,  be  improved.  Criticism  that 
fails  of  this  is  impotent. 

(2)  A  vast  amount  of  happiness  is  actually 
achieved  under  these  laws — much  animal  pleasure, 
much  intellectual  pleasure,  much  spiritual  pleasure. 
Health  always  means  pleasure ;  mental  activity 
means  happiness ;  spiritual  construction  means  bless- 
edness. It  is  disease,  ignorance,  and  vice  that  occa- 
sion suffering  The  product  of  the  divine  law,  where 
the  law  is  fulfilled,  is  happiness.  Its  actual  product, 
under  all  interference  and  conflict,  taking  the  whole 
animal  kingdom,  man  included,  contains  probably  a 
large  overbalance  of  pleasure,  and  certainly  so  of 
physical  pleasure. 

(3)  Growth  means  a  steady  increase  of  happiness. 
The  world  is  comparatively  young.  Man,  its  su- 
premely sensitive  organism,  is  just  entering  on  a 


272     THE  PROOFS  OF  THE  GOODNESS  OF  GOD. 

career  v/hich  has  been  held  back  by  the  slow  unfold- 
ing of  the  moral  nature.  This  development,  once 
well  under  way,  will  result  in  a  rapid  reduction  of 
pain,  and  a  rapid  increase  of  pleasure.  This  is  even 
now  true  in  the  physical  life  of  civilized  nations,  and 
will  be  still  more  true  in  their  social  life,  when  the 
grand  transition  is  well  made  from  the  desires  to  the 
affections.  This  simple  fact,  that  happiness  is  on 
the  increase,  should  at  once  moderate  criticism  and 
check  complaint.  Delays  seem  long  to  us,  and  yet 
count  for  little  in  the  large  circuit  of  great  things. 
In  their  slow  passage  they  develop  the  patience, 
moderation,  and  strength  which  will  be  found  ab- 
solutely essential  for  the  use  and  enjoyment  of 
those  better  times  that  are  approaching. 

(4)  The  hardships  of  the  world  are  not  too  great 
for  the  purposes  of  man's  discipline.  That  hardship 
must  enter  in  as  a  condition  of  physical,  intellectual, 
and  moral  training  is  evident.  These  hardships  are 
the  occasions  of  strength,  sagacity,  and  virtue. 
They  nerve  the  body,  quicken  the  thought,  and 
develop  the  affections.  Not  only  does  the  good 
soldier  endure  hardness,  his  fine  quality  is  the  fruit 
of  that  hardness.  That  the  severity  of  these  incen- 
tives is  not  greater  than  the  interests  of  man  call 
for  is  plain,  (a)  The  temperate  zone,  the  zone  of 
average  difficulties,  has  proved  to  be  the  zone  most 
favorable  for  civilization.  A  greater  luxury  of  cli- 
mate and  tilth  provokes  indolence,  (b)  The  children 
of  the  wealthy  are  often  and  manifestly  injured  by 
their  advantages.  The  wisdom  of  their  parents  is 
lost  upon  them,    (c)  Civilization  has  most  frequently 


HAPPINESS.  273 

perished  by  the  inner  corruption  of  luxury.  Men, 
though  they  have  gained  wealth  and  power  by  their 
own  industry,  have  not  been  able  to  resist  the  new 
temptations  these  offer ;  have  not  bridged  the  gulf 
between  the  two  stages  of  development,  but  have 
simply  plunged  into  it.  Physical  and  moral  man- 
hood has  been  worn  out  in  the  race,  and  the  eager 
contestants  have  perished  at  the  goal.  This  is  al- 
ways the  crisis  of  growth,  to  take  the  new  thing  in 
the  new  way.  We  are  perpetually  winning  what  we 
can  not  use. 

(5)  Happiness  is  subordinated  to  virtue,  and  this 
for  the  sake  of  ultimate  well-being.  This  is  the  true 
spiritual  order,  yet,  at  the  outset  it  disguises  all 
things,  and  confounds  every  calculation  expressed 
in  terms  of  pleasure.  Such  is  the  distinctly  an- 
nounced principle  of  the  moral  world ;  but  this 
principle  pushes  happiness  into  the  background,  and 
clears  the  decks  for  action.  It  is  not  till  the  victory 
has  long  been  won,  that  we  can  judge  of  the  wisdom 
of  the  sacrifice.  We  then  see  that  the  promise 
keeps  pace  with  the  principle,  and  that  pleasure 
does  attend  on  virtue.  Hence,  the  most  virtuous 
have  the  strongest  faith  in  the  benevolence  of  God. 
This  assertion  would  be  wholly  true,  were  it  not  for 
the  subtle  perversion  of  philosophy.  It  is  the 
good,  on  the  whole,  who  have  the  most  courage  to 
labor  for  the  world  ;  and  labor  implies  a  confidence 
in  its  controlling  idea ;  and  this,  whether  that  idea 
springs  from  God,  or  is  wrapped  up  in  natural  forces. 
Indeed,  the  best  of  those  critics  who  weaken  the 
mercies  of  Heaven,  strive  at  once  to  find  the  condi- 
tions of  hopeful  life  in  things  as  they  are. 


274     THE  PROOFS  OF  THE  GOODNESS  OF  GOD. 

(6)  The  argument  for  the  divine  love  grows  as  we 
grow.  No  one  objection  against  the  divine  grace 
holds.  Advancing  knowledge  weakens  it.  We  see 
more  of  the  interior  necessity,  that  is,  the  interior 
coherence  and  rationality,  of  things  ;  we  see  more 
of  their  compensations  ;  we  see  more  of  the  demands 
of  discipline.  As  experience  thus  enlarges,  as  the 
mrnd  gains  grasp,  and  the  feelings  become  pure,  the 
moral  world  better  responds  to  our  inner  life,  or 
rather  that  life,  in  its  advance,  is  keyed  to  a  more 
perfect  harmony  with  its  conditions.  We  discern 
amid  the  general  confusion  the  outlines  of  order, 
and  that  all  movement  is  in  rapid  construction 
about  them.  The  wisdom  and  love  of  human 
thought,  instead  of  finding  less  to  feed  upon,  find 
more;  it  is  not  life  but  lifelessness  that  is  famished. 
In  settling  the  truth  of  this  assertion,  we  must  re- 
member that  it  is  the  beneficent  spirit  that  recog- 
nizes and  correctly  judges  beneficence.  If  the  most 
lanre-hearted  men  have  thriven  in  the  world,  under 
its  moral  conditions,  this  fact  settles  all  things.  The 
argument  becomes  one  of  the  highest  significance. 

(7)  Men,  as  they  attain  their  true  moral  station, 
as  they  push  on  in  spiritual  life,  increasingly  love 
mercy.  He  who  formed  the  eye  shall  he  not  see? 
The  best  results  of  a  human  soul,  if  that  soul  is  a 
divine  creation,  will  be  the  truest  ones,  as  nice  defi- 
nition indicates  exactness  in  an  optical  instrument. 
Standing  over  against  the  Infinite,  spirit  before 
Spirit,  we  shall  not,  with  our  reflected  light,  shine 
brighter  than  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  It  is  an 
absurdity  in  morals  that  man  should  find  any  hold 


OBJECTIONS.  275 

of  criticism  on  God.  If  God  is,  he  is  perfect ;  the 
best  is  the  truest.  That  man  himself  grows  hourly 
in  the  estimate  of  grace,  shows  that  he  is  pressing 
toward  his  spiritual  perihelium,  and  is  simply  shar- 
ing its  warmth. 

§  3.  An  obtrusive  objection  to  God's  perfect 
goodness  is  the  suffering  of  the  world.  This  suffer- 
ing, a  pushing  and  pungent  fact,  and  one  that  the 
imagination  easily  exaggerates,  is  likely  to  weigh 
heavily  with  a  person  deeply  involved  in  this  dis- 
pleasure, or  with  one  inclined  to  narrowness  in  his 
estimates. 

These  pains  of  life,  by  their  nearness  and  engross- 
ing character,  may,  like  clouds,  hide  much  light, 
and  suddenly  make  sombre  the  whole  landscape. 
Our  habitual  exaggeration  at  this  point  should  be 
distinctly  itemized,  (a)  We  have  no  sufficient  rea- 
son to  suppose  that  the  suffering  of  animals  is  at 
all  what  we  hastily  think  it  to  be.  Our  nervous  or- 
ganism is  more  extended  and  more  sensitive  than 
any  elsewhere  found  in  the  animal  kingdom,  and 
very  much  more  so  than  that  found  in  most  animals. 
Judging,  then,  the  sufferings  of  animals  by  our  own 
sufferings,  we  magnify  them  in  the  higher  classes, 
and  beyond  all  proportion  in  the  lower  classes.  It 
is  not  merely  possible  but  probable  that  stimuli  take 
the  place  of  sensations  in  animal  life  far  more  ex- 
tendedly  than  we  have  been  accustomed  to  think. 
Consciousness  is  not  a  term  of  any  significance  either 
in  strictly  organic  or  instinctive  life.  In  both  of 
these  it  is  a  waste  and  an  obstruction  rather  than  an 
aid.     Of  rational  life,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  the 


276     THE  PROOFS  OF  THE  GOODNESS  OF  GOD. 

essential  condition.  In  man,  therefore,  it  is  not  only 
a  much  more  pronounced  term,  it  extends  down 
much  farther  into  the  organic  structure  than  in  the 
brute.  Sensation  must  go  before  reason,  since  it 
discloses  the  conditions  on  which  reason  is  to  act. 
Reason  gains  room  in  the  constitution  of  man,  be- 
cause sensations  enlarge  its  field,  and  put  it  on  close 
terms  with  all  the  operations  of  his  inner  life.  As 
sensation  expands,  reason  expands;  and  as  reason 
narrov/s,  we  have  a  right  to  infer  that  sensation  dis- 
appears. Thus,  brute  life  is  relieved  from  a  very 
large  share  of  physical  suffering. 

Of  intellectual  sufferings,  it  can  know  very  little. 
In  the  highest  animals  the  intellect  plays  a  subordi- 
nate part  to  the  appetites.  It  is  immediate  in  its 
aims,  and  hardly  has  a  horizon  beyond  the  present. 
This  restriction  in  time  cuts  off  the  chief  entail  of 
suffering.  It  is  out  of  to-morrow,  with  its  anxieties 
and  fears,  that  men  take  their  chief  intellectual  dis- 
turbances. 

(//)  We  exaggerate  human  sufferings  in  the  same 
way,  though  not  to  the  same  extent.  We  unite  the 
external  states  of  others  with  our  own  internal  feel- 
ings, and  so  interpret  life.  These  two  facts  do 
not  lie  together.  The  internal  and  the  external  in 
every  person  are  momentarily  fitting  themselves  to 
each  other,  and  so  reaching  a  relative  harmony  to 
the  great  reduction  of  pain.  It  is  only  sudden 
changes  which  bring  intense  suffering.  We  imagine 
how  we  should  feel  if  placed  at  once  in  certain  un- 
fortunate circumstances,  and  so  expound  to  our- 
selves the  feelings  of  persons  so  situated.    We  might 


SUFFERING.  2^^ 

as  well  judge  the  sensations  of  a  cool  bath  by  the 
shock  of  the  first  plunge,  or  the  later  action  of  a 
galvanic  battery  by  the  action  of  fresh  plates.  Our 
judgments  would  be  far  more  correct  if,  omitting 
differences  of  circumstances,  we  were  to  gauge  the 
average  happiness  of  men  by  our  own  happiness,  or 
even  their  moral  discipline,  inscrutable  as  this  is,  by 
our  own  discipline.  Life  fits  itself  assiduously  to 
its  circumstances,  and  at  each  adjustment  reaches  a 
proximate  equilibrium  on  terms  of  real  discipline 
and  relative  comfort.  The  happiness  of  barbarians 
and  their  moral  training  are,  it  is  true,  on  a  much 
lower  plane  than  the  happiness  and  training  of  civil- 
ized nations  ;  but  their  lives  do  not  afford  in  their 
passage  that  painful  and  perplexed  experience 
which  they  offer  to  us,  when,  in  imagination,  we 
thrust  ourselves  down  under  their  burdens.  We 
might  almost  as  well  think  that  the  fish  feels  stran- 
gled in  the  water,  or  the  angle-worm  smothered  in 
the  ground.  Human  life,  like  a  faded  painting, 
must  be  restored  in  its  own  colors,  before  we  can 
judge  it. 

The  suffering  of  the  world  is  not  simply  overesti- 
mated, it  is  so  engrossing  while  it  lasts  as  to  antici- 
pate all  sober  thought.  We  should  remember  that 
discomfort  is  a  severe  trial  to  judgment,  and  that 
we  ought  not  to  record  its  decisions  under  such  cir- 
cumstances as  •  normal  registration.  One  hour  of 
suffering  may  hide  many  happy  hours.  If  we  add 
to  this  querulousness  which  pain  begets,  the  sym- 
pathetic reduplications  it  suffers,  we  readily  see  that 
it  may  fill  and  occupy  the  ear  with  the  din  of  com- 


278     THE  PROOFS  OF  THE  GOODNESS  OF  GOD. 

plaint,  and,  as  a  moral  factor,  win  over  the  imagina- 
tion. 

Suffering,  however,  remains,  after  all  abatement 
and  correction,  a  notable  and  portentous  fact  in  the 
world,  calling  for  explanation.  This  explanation  is 
found  in  the  part  it  takes  in  intellectual  and  moral 
discipline.  (1)  The  suffering  of  the  world  is  inci- 
dent to  law — one  of  its  direct  and  one  of  its  second- 
ary consequences.  There  can  not  be  physical  laws 
without  involving  the  possibility  of  suffering  in  the 
sentient  beings  that  are  subject  to  them.  By  virtue 
of  these  laws,  men  construct  railroads,  and  by  virtue 
of  the  same  laws  they  experience  the  disaster  of  a 
broken  rail,  a  weak  bridge,  a  car  thrown  from  the 
track.  This  union  is  one  established  in  reason,  and 
can  not  rationally  be  broken. 

(2)  Suffering  .is  incident  to  life  in  all  its  higher 
forms.  Pains  and  pleasures  are  indicators.  They 
declare  the  otherwise  unknown  condition  of  the 
body,  and  help  both  to  impel  it,  and,  through  the 
mind,  to  guide  it,  in  the  right  direction.  "  But," 
says  the  objector,  "  this  easy-going  theory  leaves 
wholly  unaccounted  for  the  prodigious  host  of 
monstrous  or  imperfect  organisms,  and  the  appall- 
ing law  of  merciless  and  incessant  destruction."  * 
If  we  confine  attention  to  animal  life,  to  which  alone 
the  objection  in  its  present  form  applies,  it  is  not 
true  that  imperfect  organisms,  productive  through 
their  imperfections  of  pain,  are  relatively  a  prodig- 
ious host.  On  the  other  hand,  the  number  is  rela- 
tively very  small.  The  reproductive  laws  do  not 
often  or  badly  miscarry.  They  seem  to  be  wonderful- 
*  Diderot,  p.  65. 


SUFFERING.  2^ 

ly  fortified  against  the  accidents  of  exterior  agencies. 
More  firmness  would  cut  down  the  reciprocal  action 
between  the  organism  and  its  environment  which  con- 
stitutes a  working  and  guiding  power  in  the  world. 
What  precisely,  then,  would  these  objectors  have  ? 
Rational  objections  imply  a  rational  procedure,  and 
what  improved  procedure  have  they  to  offer?  Ra- 
tional relations  can  not  be  combined  in  all  ways,  but 
only  in  certain  ways.  The  choice  lies  between  two 
or  more  methods.  The  rejection  of  one  way  must 
involve  the  election  of  a  better  way.  If  general  laws 
are  established,  the  objector  turns  to  the  accidents 
involved  in  them.  If  special  intervention  is  affirmed, 
he  cries  a  miracle,  the  overthrow  of  law,  the  weak- 
ness of  a  personal  make-shift. 

Whether  suffering  can,  in  consistency  with  justice, 
be  admitted  at  all  in  the  animal  kingdom,  is  a  ques- 
tion which  springs  from  confused  ideas.  The  suffer- 
ing of  animals,  as  involved  in  an  intellectual  and 
moral  system,  is  one  neither  of  justice  nor  injustice. 
Justice  does  not  pertain  to  animal  life.  Animal  life 
is  simply  a  subject  for  beneficence.  Animal  suf- 
fering must  be  conceded  as  certainly  for  man's  well- 
being  as  human  suffering.  One  may  drive  his  horse, 
though  the  horse  prefer  the  pasture  ;  nor  can  the 
horse  be  called  into  council  as  to  what  constitutes 
reasonable  driving.  This  question  is  settled  in  tke 
higher  sphere  of  sympathetic  human  impulses.  The 
higher  involves  and  limits  the  lower,  not  the  lower 
the  higher.  With  sensitive  and  morbid  imagination 
we  cast  a  moral  personality  about  brutes,  and  then 
proceed  to  reason  from  it  as  if  it  were  a  fact.     Ani- 


280     THE  PROOFS  OF  THE  GOODNESS  OF  GOD. 

mals  have  no  duties,  and  hence  no  inherent  rights, 
and  no  claims  of  justice  to  cast  over  those  rights. 
Their  appeal  is  to  mercy,  and  mercy  has  its  seat  in 
the  spirit  of  man.  With  the  cleansing  of  that  spirit 
it  will  flow  forth  in  pleasant  streams.  What  is  to- 
day most  trying  in  the  sufferings  of  animals,  is  the 
gratuitous  pain  inflicted  on  them  by  man  against 
both  his  lower  wants  and  higher  nature.  A  scientist 
that  indulges  himself  in  vivisection  may  still  be 
quick  with  his  objection  to  divine  mercy. 

(3)  Suffering  is  involved  in  happiness.  Pain  is  in 
part  at  least  the  foil  of  pleasure.  Weariness  it  is 
that  makes  rest  so  sweet.  The  slight  discomfort 
defines  the  limits  of  comfort.  Even  severe  pain 
restores  to  enjoyments  their  just  estimate.  The 
lapse  from  intense  pleasure  into  ennui  teaches  us 
the  lessons  of  moderation  and  inner  composure. 
Pleasure  and  pain  are  interwoven  for  pleasure's  sake, 
and  cannot  be  torn  asunder  without  a  destruction 
of  the  web  of  our  lives. 

(4)  Suffering  is  included  in  intellectual  growth. 
We  have  said  that  pains  are  points  on  the  indica- 
tor by  which  the  condition  of  our  physical  powers 
is  disclosed  to  us,  and  the  form  and  limits  of  our 
intellectual  activity  are  assigned  us.  Without  these 
disclosures  the  intellect,  unable  to  reach  the  facts, 
would  have  no  terms  of  judgment,  no  diagnosis. 
Sagacity  lies  in  dealing  quickly  and  skilfully  with 
these  terms  of  pain  and  pleasure  ;  and  wisdom  lies  in 
a  comprehensive  statement  and  solution  of  the  entire 
problem  involved.  The  intellectual  problem  gets 
pungency  and  pressure  from  these  very  motives. 
Without  them  it  is  a  dead  record. 


SUFFERING.  2Sl 

(5)  Suffering  is,  above  all,  incident  to  righteous- 
ness. Righteousness  is  a  soul  guided  amid  these 
angry  and  assailing  waves  by  an  angel  of  wisdom 
and  mercy  at  the  helm.  This  is  the  only  spectacle 
which  makes  life  noble,  and  its  conditions  are  the 
urgent  and  multitudinous,  the  ephemeral  and  the 
eternal,  pains  and  pleasures  which  come  thronging 
up,  on  every  hand,  to  take  possession  of  the  world. 
We  must  be  allowed  a  little  impatience  at  this  lusty 
censure  of  suffering  by  which,  as  a  great  construc- 
tive energy,  the  intellects  and  hearts  of  men  are 
nerved  in  the  struggle  for  life,  in  its  enlarging  and 
upward  tendency. 

The  sufferings  of  animals  are  to  be  regarded  as  a 
secondary  term  involved  in  the  primary  term,  man's 
moral  discipline,  and  so  ultimately  in  the  largest 
aggregate  of  well-being.  It  is  also  to  be  borne 
most  distinctly  in  mind,  that  the  sufferings  of  men 
are  far  more  varied,  intense  and  protracted  than 
those  of  animals  ;  are,  in  much  the  larger  part  of 
them,  the  results  of  their  own  transgression  and 
disciplinary  under  it,  or  are  inflicted  by  others  in 
the  mere  wantonness  of  cruelty.  The  diseases  of 
men  are  innumerable,  those  of  animals  compara- 
tively few  ;  but  these  diseases  are  the  accumulated 
product  of  ignorance,  indolence,  and  vice.  By  far 
the  most  extended  and  pitiful  sufferings  in  the 
world  have  been  deliberately  put  upon  man  by 
man,  as  those  of  war,  famine,  pestilence,  imprison- 
ment, torture,  penance,  and  the  endless  irritations 
of  unkindness.  If  men,  for  the  next  hundred 
years,  were  to  strive  faithfully  to  remove   all   suffer- 


282  THE    PROOFS    OF    THE    GOODNESS    OF    GOD. 

ing,  nine-tenths  of  it  would  disappear.  If  the  ef- 
fort were  to  continue  the  second  hundred  years, 
with  the  added  intelligence  incident  to  progress, 
nine-tenths  of  the  remainder  might,  under  direct 
effort  and  the  laws  of  inheritance,  be  overcome. 
At  the  close  of  a  thousand  years  of  such  exertion, 
the  remnant  of  evil  would  be  very  insignificant,  the 
amount  of  pleasure  exceedingly   great. 

Under  the  moral  outlook,  then,  men  have  no  right 
to  complain  of  the  discipline  to  which  they  are  sub- 
jected, when  they  remember  (i)  that  unspeakably 
the  worst  portion  of  the  pain  of  the  world  is  of 
their  own  direct  infliction  ;  (2)  that  much  the 
larger  share  of  the  pain  of  the  world  follows  on 
after  their  own  heedlessness  and  vice ;  and  (3) 
that  the  world  is  a  mild  and  merciful  place,  when 
the  sanguine,  remorseless  and  peevish  temper  of 
man  is  contemplated.  It  is  at  least  doubtful 
whether  its  harsh  features  could  be  softened  with- 
out injury  to  this  untractable  pupil.  What  the 
world  waits  for  is  spiritual  renovation,  and  this 
means  that  man  in  mercy  is  to  put  away  the  pain 
in  which  he  has  hourly  revelled.  The  physical  feat- 
ures of  the  world  are  far  softer  than  the  moral 
ones.  To  mitigate  the  former  still  more,  in  advance 
of  the  latter,  would  be  to  reduce  the  light  that  now 
falls  on  the  spiritual  and  unspiritual  action.  He 
who  would  sentimentally  escape  suffering,  can  easily 
forget  the  uneradicable  relation  between  purity  and 
peace. 

The  pessimist  may  say,  "  Scarcely  is  a  happy  life 
worth  living,  and   few,  indeed,  find  that  life  ;  "  none 


INHERITANCE.  283 

the  less  the  pressure  is  not  too  great  for  the  grand 
movement  that  issues  from  it.  On  no  other  terms 
would  this  glacier  flow.  The  simple  question  still 
remains  :  Is  man  to  slide  backward  into  animal  com- 
forts or  to  be  pressed  onward  into  spiritual  life? 
What  the  pessimist  should  deny  is  that  pure  af- 
fections are  the  normal  and  attainable  good  of  ra- 
tional life  ;  or,  that,  if  attained,  they  are  possessed 
of  any  preeminent  worth.  The  negationist  must 
face  the  light,  and  with  unflinching  eye  charge  it 
home  as  another  phase  of  illusion  and  darkness. 

^  4.  A  second  objection  to  the  structure  of  the 
world  is  the  law  of  descent,  more  especially  in  its 
relation  to  man.  A  portion  of  its  results  bear  on 
their  face  the  most  disastrous  appearance.  The 
child,  by  physical  and  moral  inheritance,  takes  up 
the  terrible  burden  of  a  father's  vices  at  their  pas- 
sage over  into  retribution,  and  either  with  wholly 
disproportionate  strength  staggers  a  little  way  un- 
der it,  or,  bearing  it  more  sturdily,  enlarges  it  for 
the  next  heir.  Here  lie,  in  truth,  the  depths  of  the 
moral  kingdom,  the  hell  below  the  deepest  hell, 
and  from  this  point  all  upward  measurements  are 
taken. 

But  the  law  of  descent  is  fundamentally  con- 
structive in  the  social  and  moral  world.  To  it  are 
attached  our  chief  duties  ;  by  it  we  make  our  great- 
est gains  ;  into  it  are  woven  our  warmest  affections. 
When  the  kingdom  of  righteousness  shall  begin  to 
prevail,  it  will  be  seen  to  roll  on  in  the  grooves  of 
this  law,  and  to  hold  its  safe  movement  by  their 
support  and  guidance.     If   this  law  is   the  sinister 


284     THE  PROOFS  OF  THE  GOODNESS  OF  GOD, 

hand  of  evil,  it  is  also  the  dexterous  hand  of  virtue. 

Nor  is  there  even  among  the  vicious  any  such  de- 
terrent to  vice  as  this  very  law  of  descent.  The 
last  tie  to  be  broken  is  that  which  binds  our  actions 
to  the  fortunes  of  a  child.  And  the  child  itself, 
who  endures  this  hard  part  of  the  law,  we  may  not 
hastily  judge.  We  have  not  the  complete  range  of 
its  fortunes.  If  motives  press  downward  with  great 
weight,  they  beget  by  this  very  fact  at  least  some 
reaction  upward.  The  moral  consequences  are  al- 
ways in  the  moral  problem  and  flow  out  of  it.  As  is 
the  condition  so  are  the  responsibilities.  The  high- 
est positions  have  their  supreme  dangers,  and  the 
lowest  their  profound  compensations.  If  the  for- 
tunes of  a  parent  betray  a  son,  his  misfortunes 
sometimes  save  a  son.  Our  judgments  are  largely 
eye-judgments,  and  do  not  fathom  the  subject. 

But  abating  not  the  evil,  the  inquiry  still  remains  : 
Shall  sin  be  defended  from  its  evils,  and  rid  of  its 
own  entail  ?  What  is  it  that  shall  avail  against  sin, 
fittingly  ex-pose  it,  and  rebuke  it,  but  its  own  fearful 
consequences  ?  Is  sin  to  be  repressed  like  an  infec- 
tious disease  by  a  quarantine  ?  In  fact,  is  any  such 
quarantine  possible?  The  moral  life  lies  between 
man  and  man,  father  and  son.  There  it  is  generated  ; 
there  it  discloses  its  character;  there  its  results  fol- 
low on.  If  virtue  is  to  have  its  own,  vice  must  have 
its  own  also.  Men  who  are  constantly  making  and 
magnifying  eternal  and  unchangeable  laws,  have, 
after  all,  but  a  feeble  idea  of  their  scope.  The  su- 
pernatural, the  divine  truths,  and  the  Divine  Spirit, 
at  work  regeneratively  under  physical   and   moral 


CARNIVORA.  285 

law,  are  rejected  by  them  because  of  this  very  stern- 
ness of  order  It  would  sometimes  seem  as  if  the 
mind  delighted  in  its  own  difficulties;  it  propounds 
them  on  such  opposite  and  conflicting  grounds. 
The  one  inexpugnable  thing  in  the  moral  problem 
are  the  fruits  respectively  of  virtue  and  vice. 

A  third  objection  to  God's  benevolence  is  found 
in  the  carnivora.  "  The  law  of  merciless  and  inces- 
sant destruction  "  involved  in  the  relations  of  animal 
life  is  obviously  exposed  to  objection.  Knowledge, 
however,  rapidly  softens  the  difficulty.  The  amount, 
variety  and  freshness  of  animal  life  on  the  globe  is 
incomparably  greater  than  it  otherwise  could  be,  by 
reason  of  this  law.  In  the  same  degree,  therefore, 
is  the  aggregate  of  animal  pleasure  increased.  It 
may  well  be  doubted,  on  the  other  hand,  whether 
the  balance  of  pains  would  be  favorably  altered  by 
substituting  slow  decay  for  a  violent  death.  The 
sufferings  incident  to  this  method  have  a  higher 
apparent  than  real  amount.  The  quick  stroke  of 
death  is  appalling  to  human  senses  and  imagination, 
but  doubtless  in  itself  is  frequently  a  painless  tran- 
sition. The  carnivora  are  skilful  workmen,  and 
strike  hard  at  a  nervous  centre.  Dr.  Livingstone 
found  that  the  stroke  of  the  lion  was  wellnigh 
painless.  Setting  aside  sentiment,  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  life  can  be  extinguished  with  less  loss  in 
any  other  way,  while  the  gains  of  the  method  to 
active  life  are  very  great.  We  must  remember  that 
the  death  of  an  animal  has  not  much  significance 
save  as  a  physical  fact.  It  is  preceded  by  very  lit- 
tle apprehension  ;  it  is  quickly  over;  the  excitement 


286     THE  PROOFS  OF  THE  GOODNESS  OF  GOD. 

of  the  struggle  obscures  the  pain  ;  the  triumphant 
strength  of  the  victor  offsets  the  defeat  of  the  vic- 
tim. The  whole  transaction  proceeds  on  a  plane  of 
greatly  reduced  sensibilities. 

Moreover,  this  is  a  fact  which  exactly  expresses 
the  moral  temper  of  the  world.  Men,  like  animals, 
prey  on  each  other.  The  moral  type  should  be 
sustained  by  its  physical  surroundings.  A  world 
greatly  better  than  man,  and  still  subject  to  his  cruel 
impulses,  would  be  a  far  more  startling  and  unen- 
durable fact — one  that  would  torture  every  tender 
sensibility.  The  domestic  animals  are  those  most 
to  be  pitied.  They  suffer  far  more  from  injury 
at  the  hands  of  man  than  do  wild  animals  from 
each  other.  As  moral  renovation  advances,  both 
forms  of  suffering  will  be  narrowed.  Man  will  tem- 
per his  own  action  with  mercy,  and  the  higher 
carnivora  will  disappear. 

A  fourth  point  at  which  nature  seems  to  proceed 
in  negligence  of  pain  is  in  nourishing  parasites. 
This  objection  does  not  hold  in  the  lower  forms  of 
life,  as  no  suffering  is  involved  in  it  ;  it  does  not  at- 
tain any  very  considerable  force  till  we  reach  man. 
He  is  said  to  be  infested  with  a  score  or  more  of 
parasites.  Preeminently  in  man — and  the  assertion 
is  also  measurably  true  in  domestic  animals — para- 
sitic life  attends  on  physical  conditions  of  neglect 
and  reduction,  and  is  virtually  a  punishment  of  igno- 
rance, indolence,  and  vice.  A  pure  and  well-sus- 
tained life  has  ordinarily  but  little  to  fear  from  para- 
sites, and  the  most  subtle  of  these  dangers  impose 
on  us  a  more  intelligent  regard  of  the  laws  of  clean- 


PARASITES.  287 

liness  and  good  husbandry.  Parasites  enforce  upon 
us  thorough  attention  to  all  the  concomitants  of 
refined  life.  Squalor,  dirt,  miasma,  in  their  obtru- 
sive and  concealed  forms,  measure  this  peril.  Its 
presence,  therefore,  impels  us  upward,  and  is  left 
behind  at  each  step  of  progress.  It  is  a  tsetse  fly 
driving  us  into  a  better  spiritual  habitat. 

The  moral  type  also  still  includes  the  parasite, 
and  may  well  find  its  present  expression  in  the  world 
about  us.  Sin  is  a  parasite,  the  most  fatal  and  re- 
volting. The  language  of  coercion  and  censure  re- 
quires images  of  no  less  vivid  and  loathsome  import 
than  those  furnished  by  leprosy  or  a  cancer.  Moral 
congruity  determines  the  organic  integrity  of  the 
world. 

The  goodness  of  God  remains  like  the  day  strug- 
gling with  the  night.  The  dark  mind  may  forebode 
defeat.  The  issue  is  to  be  made  out  dynamically. 
We  must  understand  the  circuit  of  the  sun  and  the 
strength  of  its  ascension. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

IMMORTALITY. 

§  I.  The  central  truths  in  Natural  Theology  are 
the  being  and  attributes  of  God.  A  truth,  which  im- 
mediately follows  from  these  truths,  and  greatly  en- 
larges their  scope,  is  that  of  immortality.  The  or- 
der of  belief  is  our  own  spiritual  constitution,  the 
being  of  God,  immortality.  We  discuss  immortality 
in  connection  with  Natural  Theology  because  it  is 
so  immediately  dependent  on  the  attributes  of  God, 
and  because  these  attributes  assume  such  new  im- 
portance for  us  by  virtue  of  immortality.  The 
range  of  the  present  life  is  so  narrow  that  it  gives 
no  sufficient  field  for  the  grand  incentives  of  religion. 
Very  moderate  powers  receive,  in  the  assertion  of 
immortality,  an  unmeasured  coefficient,  and  so  be- 
come of  great  magnitude.  Every  relation  is  altered 
by  it,  and  life  in  its  new  dimensions  takes  up  new 
motives.  To  acquire  a  language  is  an  effort  of  little 
worth  if  there  be  no  wealth  of  literature  in  it ;  to 
learn  the  moral  and  spiritual  speech  of  the  world  is 
a  comparatively  fruitless  task  if  there  is  no  Kingdom 
of  Heaven,  no  land  of  which  this  is  the  native 
tongue. 

288 


PHYSICAL    CONSTITUTION.  289 

We  do  not   argue  immortality  from    our  physical 
constitution.     On  the  other  hand,  this  in  itself  and 
in  its  affinities  is   strictly  mortal,  giving  no  promise 
beyond  the   present.     Under  a  strict   philosophy  of 
evolution,  with  our   first   terms   physical,  we  should 
grant  our  last  terms  to  be  physical  also,  and  waive 
every  thought    of    immortality.     Nor  can    we    any 
more   shape   a   rational   expectation    of    future  life 
from  anything  which  we  are  pleased  to  term  the  es- 
sence  of    the  human  soul.     Our  ignorance  here  is 
too    profound   to    give    our    thought    any    footing. 
Even  the  penetrative  mind  of  Bishop  Butler  makes 
nothing  out   of   the   proof.     We   infer  immortality 
from  our  rational  constitution,  taken  with  the  char- 
acter of  God.     The  argument,  then,  turns  upon  our 
philosophy  and  our  religion,  and  is  of   the  same  su- 
persensual  character      Immortality  lies  in  its  prom- 
ises as  wholly  beyond  physical   science  as  it  does  in 
itself.     We  do  not  expect   our  later  conclusions  to 
be  any  stronger  than   our  earlier  ones.     If  there  is 
no  spirit  in  man,  if  it  is  not  the  inspiration    of   the 
Almighty  that  giveth   man    understanding,  then  as- 
suredly he  will  perish  like  the  flowers,  and  no  beauty 
will  be  any  protection  to  him.     If  we  were  empir- 
icists, we  should  yield  the  point  at  once.     The  argu- 
ment rests  on  the  two  abutments  of  man's  spiritual 
constitution  and  God's  spiritual  government.    These 
giving  way,  the  structure  sinks  with  them. 

Negatively,  however,  science  has  nothing  of  any 
moment  to  say  against  immortality.  It  finds,  it  is 
true,  no  proof  for  it  in  its  own  field  ;  but  from  the 
very  nature  of  the  case  it  should  not.     Its  testimony 


29O  IMMORTALITY. 

is  simply  assertions  made  concerning  one  place  in 
reference  to  what  is  alleged  to  have  occurred  in  an- 
other place.  Nor  is  there  any  rational  presumption 
against  immortality,  save  to  those  who  make  human 
experience  a  test  of  all  possibilities.  Its  conditions, 
indeed,  are  inconceivable,  but  the  reason  of  this  is 
obvious.  A  life  unlike  our  present  life  has  no  com- 
mon terms  in  experience  with  it,  and  hence  is  incon- 
ceivable. We  can  do  very  little  in  working  out 
events  on  the  surface  of  Jupiter.  The  mystery  of 
that  future  life,  when  it  shall  become  a  fact,  will  not 
be  greater  than  that  of  this  life.  Existence  then 
will  be  somewhat  less  strange  than  existence  now, 
for  it  will  have  an  explanatory  term  back  of  it, 
which  this  life  lacks.  There  is  no  presumption 
against  immortal  life  which  can  stand  in  the  pres- 
ence of  large  and  sober  reason  and  maintain  itself. 
There  are,  indeed,  many  shadowy  impressions  arising 
from  the  vagueness  and  strangeness  of  its  condi- 
tions ;  many  tyrannical  feelings  incident  to  a  life 
planted  in  the  senses  ;  but  these  are  in  their  own  na- 
ture ephemeral,  are  the  appertainings  of  a  transient 
experience,  and  may  not  masquerade  in  the  pres- 
ence of  great  interests  and  eternal  moral  principles. 
^  2.  The  first  support  for  the  doctrine  of  immor- 
tality is  found  in  our  spiritual  constitution.  Mani- 
festly if  we  could  clearly  read  this  constitution,  we 
should  see  at  once  in  it  either  the  presence  or  the 
absence  of  the  conditions  of  future  life.  This  argu- 
ment, resting  on  rational  powers,  as  powers  of  a 
peculiar  order,  extends  no  lower  than  man  in  the 
animate   creation. 


PROOFS.  29I 

(1)  The  life  of  man,  when  it  is  brought  to  an  end 
in  death,  is  manifestly  not  exhausted  in  its  intellec- 
tual and  spiritual  resources.  The  life  of  the  animal 
is  so  rounded  in  by  physical  conditions  as  to  wax 
and  wane  with  them.  Man's  higher  powers,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  capable  of  indefinite  growth.  The 
physical  limitations  put  upon  them  may  sometimes 
obscure,  but  do  not  hide,  this  fact.  The  present 
life  is  exceedingly  limited  and  insufficient  as  tested 
by  this  end  of  growth.  Its  experiences  increase  in 
value  at  every  step  ;  its  earlier  are  for  its  later  ones, 
and  its  later  ones  have  in  them  the  same  law  of  de- 
velopment. These  faculties  of  man  are  profoundly 
fitted  for  a  further  unfolding,  and  so  indicate  an  in- 
tellectual purpose  and  raise  a  moral  demand  in  refer- 
ence to  it.  Here  are  germs  to  which  a  future  life  is 
a  correlative  opportunity  of  development.  The 
spiritual  unrest  of  man  is  a  fruit  of  the  range  of  un- 
satisfied powers.  He  will  not,  in  his  hopes  and  aims, 
readily  settle  down  into  the  narrow  circuit  of  his 
physical  life  ;  and  so  far  as  he  does  this,  he  is  in- 
jured by  the  concession.  All  his  lifting  forces 
look  toward  immortality  ;  an  irrepressible  migratory 
impulse  is  in  him,  the  product  of  his  combined 
powers. 

The  case,  therefore,  may  be  put  more  strongly. 
In  spite  of  physical  decay  it  is  often  manifest  that 
life  closes  at  a  maximum  of  spiritual  energy.  Even 
the  narrowing  down  of  activity  is,  in  part,  due  to 
more  sober  and  proportionate  impulses,  and,  in  part, 
also  due  to  the  coming  forward  of  a  fresh  generation, 
who   only  take  up  hesitatingly  the  wisdom  and  the 


292  IMMORTALITY. 

ways  of  the  previous  one.  Thus,  as  Ranke  says : 
"  In  every  great  life  there  comes  a  moment  when 
the  soul  feels  that  it  no  longer  lives  in  the  present 
world  and  draws  back  from  it."  This  feeling  does 
not  arise  from  the  decay  of  life,  but  from  its  weari- 
ness with  conditions  which  are  too  slow  for  it,  and 
which,  in  their  exciting  form,  it  has  relatively  ex- 
hausted. The  sedate  old  man  is  far  better  fitted 
for  life  on  its  spiritual  side  than  the  impulsive  young 
man.  The  conditions  both  of  wise  thought  and 
balanced  peaceful  pleasure  are  with  him.  Quicker 
and  more  refined  tastes  and  sensibilities,  and  more 
profound  and  generous  affections  are  his.  He  lacks 
no  promise  of  larger  being  save  only  the  physical  one. 
All  forces  have  wrought  in  him  a  more  perfect  spirit- 
ual equilibrium.  Shall  these  physical  accidents  hem 
in  the  spirit,  and  finally  strangle  it,  like  a  tie  too 
tightly  drawn  in  one's  own  garments?  No  philos- 
ophy can  think  so,  save  one  that  in  the  grand  elec- 
tion has  given  supremacy  to  matter  rather  than  to 
mind,  and  so  made  thought  the  pitiful  thrall  of 
things. 

(2)  The  whole  object  of  evolution,  the  consum- 
mated labor  of  life,  will  be  lost  without  immortality. 
Nothing  can  be  rationally  worse  or  morally  more  un- 
sound than  a  purposeless  movement  or  insufficient 
issue.  It  brings  to  the  mind  the  weariness  of  fruit- 
less labor,  and  to  the  moral  sentiment  the  discour- 
agement of  broken  relations.  None  of  us  are  will- 
ing to  take  the  present  as  the  last  term  in  evolution. 
None  of  us  find  in  it  such  fulness  as  to  explain  all 
that  has   gone  before,  or  any  arrest   of  the   forces 


PROOFS.  293 

which  have  reached  this  very  moment  of  our  lives. 
The  empiricist  strives  to  save  evolution,  while  let- 
ing  slip  the  individual  by  granting  a  kind  of  im- 
mortality to  the  race.  The  effort  is  not  merely  vain, 
it  has  precisely  the  opposite  moral  effect  from  that 
intended.  The  race  is  made  up  of  individuals,  and 
its  fortunes  cannot  be  separated  from  their  fortunes. 
If  each  withers  away  prematurely  with  unripe  fruits, 
the  breadth  of  the  race  only  broadens  the  misfortune. 
Not  one  plant  simply,  but  the  whole  garden  is  bitten 
by  frost.  The  race  cannot  improve  save  as  individ- 
ual life  becomes  more  hopeful,  more  masterful ;  and 
this  life  can  not  find  the  needed  spiritual  incentives 
in  the  pallid  light  of  the  tomb,  nor  maintain  the 
springy  step  of  progress  under  the  unalleviated  bur- 
dens of  the  body.  Or  if  it  could  do  this,  the  argu- 
ment for  immortality  would  gain  ground  at  every 
stage  of  growth.  The  moral  censure  of  hiding  this 
grand  life  in  the  grave  would  become  unendurable. 
If  the  rational  fruits  of  the  world  are  to  be  ripened 
they  must  be  ripened  in  another  life.  Such  a  life  is 
the  out-door  garden  of  this  our  conservatory.  Who, 
either  in  his  thought  or  feeling,  can  say  there  is  no 
other  air,  no  higher  heavens,  in  which  these  plants 
can  blossom  ;  nothing  save  this  stifled  air  and  this 
glass  within  reach  of  my  hand  !  Nor  is  the  protest 
less  profoundly  rational,  less  deeply  based  in  our 
constitution,  because  it  is  deeply  emotional. 

(3)  The  moral  law  is  an  unsuitable  law  for  the 
guidance  of  a  simply  mortal  life.  It  is  one  of  self- 
sacrifice,  it  is  one  of  protracted  struggle,  one  of  con- 
stant concession  of  pleasure  to  duty,  of  the  present 


294  IMMORTALITY. 

to  the  future.  It  maintains  this  character  to  the 
very  end  of  life  and  generation  after  generation. 
Now,  if  there  is  no  future  life,  such  a  law  is  out  of 
sorts.  It  has  a  range  too  broad  for  the  facts  mar- 
shaled by  it.  It  is  full  of  high-sounding,  yet  empty 
words.  It  is  ever  holding  up  ideals  that  cannot  be 
attained.  Man  is  thus  led  on  to  wearisome  and  dis- 
appointing effort  by  promises  made  to  his  highest 
and  most  sensitive  nature.  Moral  fitness  is  most  of 
all  wanting  in  morality  itself. 

Irrational  life  under  its  law  of  appetite  and  in- 
stinct is  fit,  proportionate,  fortunate  ;  rational  life 
under  its  law  of  duty,  perplexed,  restless,  even  disas- 
trous and  diabolical.  No  man  can  well  accept  the 
moral  law  as  one  of  spiritual  insight,  and  not  feel  at 
once  that  the  years  of  eternity  must  be  given  to  it 
in  which  to  clear  itself ;  that  a  long  day  of  fulfilment 
and  peace  is  to  follow  and  level  up  the  end  with  the 
beginning.  Men  are  now  called  on  by  this  law  of 
duty  to  stand  on  the  verge  of  time,  to  cast  all  things 
behind  them,  and  in  the  faith  of  implicit  obedience 
to  fling  themselves  on  the  open-handed  future.  If 
this  future  drops  them  into  oblivion,  what  then  ? 
They  have  played  the  part,  on  the  highest  stage  of 
the  world,  of  a  moral  maniac. 

The  empiricist,  while  greatly  cutting  down  the 
moral  nature,  tries  to  get  depth  enough  to  float  his 
razeed  craft,  by  claiming  an  immortality  for  the  race. 
This  makes  the  matter  worse  rather.  An  infinite 
number  of  restless,  unfortunate,  and  half-fortu- 
nate creatures  cannot  outweigh  a  single  perfect 
man.     It  may  be  thought   that   this  argument   im- 


PROOFS.  295 

plies  that  a  moral  life  is  an  undesirable  and  un- 
happy life,  and  must  needs  have  compensations  and 
payments.  Not  so  ;  it  simply  implies  that  the  first 
stages  of  development  are  difficult  stages,  and  that 
if  they  lead  to  nothing,  they  are  of  little  worth  by 
themselves.  Foundations  may  not  pay  for  the  laying 
if  they  are  not  to  be  built  upon.  Moreover,  the  moral 
law,  as  it  now  lies  in  men's  faith,  casts  the  light  of 
a  great  promise  over  these  first  labors,  and  so  trans- 
forms them.  The  light  fades  out  of  the  sky  if  there 
is  no  immortality. 

(4)  Those  who  most  staunchly  hold  fast  to  immor- 
tality, do  it  by  virtue  of  the  force  of  their  spiritual 
powers.  It  is  easy  to  ridicule  this  argument,  as  if 
it  involved  the  assertion  that  the  existence  of  a 
belief  and  the  strength  of  a  belief  prove  its  truth. 
The  universality  and  force  of  a  belief  do  imply 
some  occasion  for  it.  Beliefs  are  facts,  are  effects, 
and  have  causes.  The  only  proof  we  have  of  any 
truth  is,  in  ultimate  analysis,  this  same  universality 
and  pertinacity  of  conviction.  Putting  the  case  in 
the 'forms  of  scientific  thought,  we  may  say  that 
any  general  impulse  in  any  form  of  life  implies  an 
exterior  correlative  term.  Natural  selection  is 
potent  enough  to  abolish  mere  worry.  Thus  in- 
stinct is  a  correspondence  between  organic  incent- 
ives and  exterior  conditions.  If  the  lemmings  of 
Norway  at  times  congregate  in  great  numbers,  and, 
moving  off  in  a  straight  line,  perish  in  the  North 
Sea,  the  naturalist  does  not  rest  satisfied  with  this 
self-destruction  as  a  final  fact.  He  regards  it  as  an 
expression    of    a  general    migratory  habit    formed 


296  IMMORTALITY. 

under  other  conditions,  and  in  that  instance  mis- 
carrying through  a  change  of  circumstances.  The 
impulse  toward  immortality,  and  the  impulse  in 
turn  received  from  it,  are  very  general  in  our  race. 
Why  are  they  operative  with  such  extended  and 
permanent  force  if  they  have  no  correlation  ?  Ani- 
mals are  not  extendedly  harassed  by  ideas  reaching 
into  a  realm  of  illusion. 

But  this  impulse  in  men  exists  in  its  strongest, 
clearest  form  as  they  enlarge  their  spiritual  pow- 
ers, and  in  turn  expands  and  nourishes  those  pow- 
ers. If  science,  then,  will  not  allow  in  its  explana- 
tions the  incongruity  of  organs  that  have  no  func- 
tions, or  instincts  that  render  no  service,  why 
should  reason  accept  the  greater  incongruity  of  a 
spiritual  impulse,  more  deeply  rooted  as  the  mind 
unfolds  itself,  that  plays  no  part  in  the  spiritual 
economy,  that  has  no  basis  in  the  world  of  facts  ? 
A  general  conviction  has  a  ground,  and  a  conviction 
that  advances  with  our  rational  powers  has  a 
ground  allied  with  those  constitutional  forces.  A 
belief,  then,  in  immortality,  as  an  action  and  reac- 
tion in  our  spiritual  growth,  indicates  a  correlation 
of  the  highest   order. 

(5)  A  kindred  argument  is  found  in  the  reasons 
which  now  lead  gifted  and  good  men  to  reject  the 
belief.  They  do  it  with  more  or  less  reluctance, 
and  are  driven  to  it  by  a  one-sided  philosophy.  It 
is  the  fruit  of  empiricism,  and  has  no  more  sig- 
nificancy  than  the  philosophy  of  which  it  forms  a 
part.  It  is  simply  an  overflow  of  the  habitable 
world  by  the  uninhabitable  sea — of  the  spiritual  by 


PROOFS.  297 

the  physical — and  will  last  no  longer  than  while  the 
tide  is  in. 

(6)  This  leads  us  to  our  last  argument  under  this 
head,  and  one  which,  in  a  measure,  includes  all  the 
others.  Immortality  is  the  third  word  in  the 
vocabulary  of  belief;  spirit,  God,  immortality.  A 
spirit,  an  Infinite  Spirit,  an  eternal  fellowship  of 
spirits, — this  is  the  rational  relation  of  ideas.  A  be- 
lief in  immortality  is  the  second  highest  expression 
of  faith,  and  faith  is  the  force  of  our  spiritual  life. 
The  present  argument,  then,  is,  that  this  doctrine  is 
embraced  as  a  most  pregnant  term  in  that  supreme 
action  of  mind  and  heart  which  we  designate  as 
faith.  If  the  human  spirit  has  power,  if  it  enters 
any  new  and  higher  regions  of  life,  it  must  do  it  by 
virtue  of  a  subtle,  upward  tendency  of  its  own, — by 
virtue  of  impulses  and  affinities  native  to  its  constitu- 
tion. To  trust  these  incentives,  to  obey  them — this 
is  inspiration  ;  to  fear  them,  to  discredit  them,  to 
disparage  them — this  is  the  inertia  of  a  grosser  being. 
That  the  best  thing  is  the  truest  thing,  as  certainly 
as  the  truest  thing  is  the  best  thing,  is  an  affirma- 
tion that  mind  makes  to  itself  in  recognition  of  its 
own  integrity,  and  heart  makes  to  heart  in  their  com- 
mon purity.  When  the  world  is  surveyed  from  the 
widest  outlook,  and  faith,  the  sharpest  sense  of  all, 
catches  the  most  secret  voice  of  facts,  then  it  is 
that  these  two  truths  of  spiritual  being  gather 
force. 

Faith  can  never  put  its  full  proofs  into  words,  any 
more  than  colors  can  be  fittingly  described  ;  and  the 
words  that  it  does   utter  wait  on   the  interpretation 


298  IMMORTALITY. 

of  kindred  experiences.  To  these  affirmations  of  the 
soul  within  itself,  to  itself  and  to  others,  science  has 
little  to  offer,  and  nothing  properly  to  oppose.  It 
stands  by  as  an  indifferent  person,  when  a  friend  is 
praised.  Its  wisdom  is  to  keep  silence,  and  the 
smile  of  incredulity  only  betrays  its  cynical  heart. 
The  terms  of  physical  science,  far  from  being  ex- 
haustive terms,  are  only  primary  ones  in  the  realm 
of  mind,  and  mind  is  more  true  to  itself  at  the 
points  at  which  it  transcends  them,  than  at  those  at 
which  it  is  measured  by  them.  The  whole  contro- 
versy, indeed,  lies  just  here.  Is  mind  a  numerical 
statement,  a  complex  equation,  of  the  weights  and 
measures  of  the  senses,  or  does  it  rise  above  them 
into  a  region  of  comprehension,  by  its  full  spiritual 
stature?  Because  a  spiritual  philosophy  culminates 
in  this  faith  in  immortality,  and  wraps  about  the 
belief  a  most  lively  tissue  of  thought  and  feeling,  as 
the  mantle  of  the  mollusk  envelops  the  shell  it  is 
depositing,  or  as  the  tree  covers  in  the  obscure  buds 
of  the  coming  season,  do  we  believe  that  this  doc- 
trine stands  justified  in  the  kinship  of  forces,  as  the 
uppermost  point  of  growth — growth  ever  antece- 
dently obscure,  and  only  fully  expounded  in  its 
accomplishment. 

§  3.  By  this  relation  of  immortality  to  faith,  to 
a  rational  confidence  in  the  coherent  structure  and 
upward  stretch  of  things,  we  reach  a  second  series 
of  proofs,  springing  from  the  character  of  God. 

(1)  We  believe  that  the  plan  of  God  requires  this 
completion  of  immortality.  The  present  confusion 
and  discord  of  the  world  in  its  moral  facts  are  very 


PROOFS.  299 

plain.  If  there  is  any  coherent  result  to  be  reached 
by  these  events,  evidently  some  ulterior  object  is 
sought  after  by  them.  That  the  full  scope  of  a 
divine  purpose  can  be  secured  on  the  present  plane 
of  man's  action,  by  itself  and  for  itself,  is  even  less 
probable  than  the  same  assertion  would  have  been, 
if  made  concerning  the  earliest  forms  of  animal  life. 
If  the  hold  which  immortality  has  upon  the  mind, 
is,  as  we  have  indicated,  a  prophetic  foreshadowing 
of  the  forces  which  work  for  its  coming,  not  less 
does  rational  evolution  call  for  the  transition  in- 
volved in  immortality.  Immortality  can  plainly 
bring  new  light,  new  breadth,  new  fitness,  to  these 
cramped  and  distorted  moral  facts.  Accepting  with 
thorough  conviction  the  past  as  a  rational  unfold- 
ing, we  are  carried  at  once  onward  to  the  fitness  of 
a  like  and  yet  larger  progress — a  progress  here  in  its 
own  line,  and  a  later  progress  which  harvests  home 
this  growth. 

(2)  The  truthfulness  of  God,  the  imperturbable 
support  of  faith,  calls  for  immortality.  The  wise 
and  kind  parent  is  careful  not  to  allow  any  deep, 
earnest  desire,  any  pregnant  hope,  to  be  awakened 
in  the  mind  of  the  child,  which  cannot  find  fulfil- 
ment. The  sober  and  earnest  thoughts  of  men  are 
the  natural  products  of  their  constitution.  If  these, 
even  in  their  most  fruitful  forms,  must  pass  away  as 
illusions,  the  whole  moral  nature  suffers  a  taint  of 
falsehood.  Spiritual  truth,  truth  to  one's  better  im- 
pulses, becomes  of  far  less  significance  in  the  world 
than  intellectual  truth  ;  and  the  truth-loving  temper 
of  God   suffers   reproach.     It  does   not,  to  the   dis- 


3<DO  IMMORTALITY. 

criminating  mind,  follow  that  because  men  may 
dream  idly,  that  therefore  all  their  hopes  should 
be  pronounced  idle.  Nay,  the  folly  of  foolish 
dreams  requires  the  foil  of  profound  hope  to  dis- 
close their  character.  If  all  beyond  the  coarse 
facts  of  the  senses  is  mere  vapor,  banded  with 
color  according  to  the  light  that  chances  to  fall 
upon  it,  then  these  facts  themselves  have  no  trans- 
lation but  that  of  the  senses,  and  we  live  by  sight 
simply. 

(3)  The  love  of  God  toward  man  leads  us  to  the 
same  conclusion.  Man  seems  spiritually  capable  of 
future  life ;  he  covets  it  ;  he  shapes  his  action  in 
reference  to  it;  he  is  lifted  by  this  hope;  he  is  re- 
strained from  evil  and  united  to  virtue.  What 
other  result  can  divine  love  grant,  then,  save  this 
of  immortality?  The  love  of  God  for  man  would 
lose  all  high  quality,  would  be  like  that  which  we 
have  for  the  flowers  of  a  single  season,  if  the  years 
are  to  sweep  him  quickly  away,  and  that,  too,  before 
he  has  reached  his  flowering. 

(4)  Nor  can  man  on  these  terms  be  properly 
called  into  any  communion  with  God.  We  must 
ever  stand  as  passing  strangers  about  the  threshold 
of  the  temple,  or  in  its  outer  courts.  Communion 
implies  reciprocal  love  that  holds  fast  its  objects  in 
an  ever  firmer  embrace.  The  love  of  God  is  re- 
hearsed for  us  in  every  pure  household.  It  is  a  love 
that  yields  to  no  outside  pressure,  that  frames  over 
and  over  again  its  inside  bands  with  constant  en- 
largement and  renewed  strength.  That  God,  hav- 
ing embraced  man  in  this  fellowship  of  love,  should 


PROOFS.  3OI 

relax  his  hold  is  a  moral  contradiction.  Having  be- 
gun such  a  work  as  this,  he  must  needs  carry  it  on  to 
perfection.  Having  commenced  a  discipline,  he  will 
not  arrest  it ;  having  drawn  forth  love,  he  will  not 
fling  it  away ;  having  bestowed  love,  he  will  not 
withdraw  it.  The  pledge  of  the  Divine  Nature  in 
his  full  spiritual  force  is  set  as  a  seal  to  the  immor- 
tality of  the  good.  That  "  where  I  am  there  ye 
may  be  also." 

(5)  The  argument  gains  force  from  the  contrast  of 
the  opposite  statement.  Death  must  remain  the 
most  melancholy  fact  conceivable  in  its  spiritual 
bearings,  if  no  life  follows  after  it.  A  sort  of  stu- 
pidity and  intoxication,  a  steadfast  shutting  of  the 
eyes,  are  our  only  defence  against  it.  We  are  to 
remember  that  our  proof  now  proceeds  on  the  as- 
sertion of  a  God  infinite  in  power,  perfect  in  wisdom 
and  love.  We  can  reach  no  hopeful  conclusion  on 
any  other  premises.  Men  lose  immortality  because 
they  first  lose  God.  The  light,  dying  out  at  the 
centre,  is  lost  at  the  circumference.  A  universe 
spiritually  dead,  no  matter  how  large  it  is  in  itself, 
is  of  the  nature  of  a  tomb.  So  men  say:  "  God  is 
dead,  hope  is  dead,  let  us  die  also." 

But  the  spiritual  features  of  death  are  no  more 
softened  by  this  despairing  philosophy  than  are  its 
physical  aspects.  The  two  are  the  same.  There  is 
no  pallor  like  the  pallor  of  the  grave,  no  knell  like 
the  knell  of  the  tomb,  when  affection  buries  its  dead. 
Nor  is  this  mere  sentiment — simple  weakness.  If  the 
eye  may  covet  light,  if  the  ear  may  long  for  music, 
the   mind   may  claim   prolonged    communion  with 


302  IMMORTALITY. 

truth.  The  heart  may  yearn  to  retain  its  inheri- 
tance of  love.  No  facts  are  settled  deeper  in  our 
rational  constitution.  Nor  has  our  empirical  philos- 
ophy any  truly  explanatory  or  consolatory  words  to 
offer  at  the  very  end.  All  it  has  to  say  is  like  pelt- 
ing hail,  fitted  to  lead  us  to  wrap  ourselves  more 
closely  in  the  cold  proprieties  of  life,  but  not  fitted 
to  impart  any  new  warmth,  or  to  descend,  like  gen- 
tle rain,  to  the  seeds  hidden  in  a  fruitful  soil. 
Death  stands  as  a  victor  over  life  ;  light  ends  in 
darkness  ;  and  the  shadows  of  vanished  pleasures 
only  swell  the  sad  retinue  whose  voice  is  a  dirge. 
Whatever  we  may  seem  to  make  of  the  world  under 
the  divine  wisdom  in  it,  the  fact  of  death  still  fills 
it  with  fear  and  silence  ;  for  every  spirit  that  has 
tasted  life  must  take  its  solitary  way  back  again  to 
the  regions  of  night.  One  word  alters  all,  explains 
all,  illuminates  all,  and  that  word  is  immortality. 
So  true  is  this  that  it  is  impossible  to  hold  the  one 
conception  without  the  other  ;  to  believe  in  God 
and  not  to  believe  in  his  chief  gift,  the  condition 
of  all  his  gifts.  Life  and  immortality  are  the  first 
things  brought  to  light  in  any  grand  incarnation  of 
spiritual  truth. 


THE   END. 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Absolute,  contradictory  idea, 

P- 

3  ;  true  form  of, 

19 

Adaptation, 

I32 

Affinities  of  elements,  p.  107  ; 

as 

affected  by  temperature,   . 

I08 

Age  of  the  world,    . 

139 

Allen,  Grant, 

. 

135 

Anselm, 

. 

s 

Anthropomorphic  ideas, 

28 

Anticipation  in  plants. 

155 

Appeals,  inadmissible, 

30 

A  priori  proof, 

35 

Argument  for  the  being  of  God, 

simplicity  of, 

75 

Atmosphere,  ingredients,  p. 

"5 

offices,  p.  116  ; 

diffusion,  p.  117 

;  diffu- 

sion  of  heat,  118  ;  of  moisture 

11S 

Beauty  in  plants,  p.  156  ;  in  anim 

als,       . 

183 

Bell,  Sir  Charles,     . 

188 

Benevolence, 

215 

Body  of  man,  as  an  engine 

P- 

179;   upright 

position,  p.  201  ; 

senses 

p. 202 ;  hand,     . 

203 

Camel,  adaptations, 

185 

Carbon, 

1 

II 

1  *73 

Carnivora,     . 

2S5 

Causation,  p.  40  ;  proof  from 

P- 

*2  ;  final  causes 

p.  61 :  relation  of 

cause 

and  reasons, 

193 

Chadbourne,  President, 

184 

Christianity, 

245 

Circulation  in  animal  life, 

175 

Clarke,  Samuel, 

37 

Colors, 

135 

Consciousness,  appeals  to,  p 

3° 

proof  from,  p. 

38  ;  nature  of, 

55 

Cooke,  Prof.  J.  P., 

89,  90,  94 

,  IOI 

Correlation  of  forces, 

ro4 

,  i44 

Crystals, 

94 

Dana,  Prof., 

95 

Darwin,  p.  140  ;  life, 

. 

161 

303 


304 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 
223,  227 

•  36 


Degeneracy  in  religion,     .  . 

Descartes,     .......... 

Descent,  and  goodness  of  God,    ....... 

Desires,  insatiable,  ........ 

Development,  organic,  p.  195  ;  intellectual,  p.  205  ;  spiritual,  p.  209,  222  ; 

in  history,  p.  253  ;  of  the  nature  of  evolution,       .... 
Discipline  of  the  world,  p.  265;  involves  what,  p.  266;  includes  laws, 

p.  267  ;  no  grounds  of  complaint,      ...... 

Ear,     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     •       . 

Empirical  philosophy,         ...... 

Energy,  indestructible,  p.  101  ;  eternal, 

Equilibration,  ....... 

Evolution,  p.  49  ;  relation  to  proof,  p.   125  ;  reasons  for,  p.   128  ;  forces 

covered,  p.  130  ;  by  increments,  p.  145  ;  in  organic  forces,        .  .       195 


283 
219 


255 


282 


202 
50,  62,  234 


3° 


Experience  as  a  guide, 

Eye, 

Faith,  relation  to  proof,  p.  5  ;  appeals  to,  p.  33  ;  relation  to  historical 
growth,  .... 

Feelings,  relation  to  proof, 

Final  causes,  .... 

First  cause,  .... 

Forces,  indestructible,  p.  48  ;  eternal, 

Gemmules,  .... 

Glacier,  ..... 

God,  nature  and  attributes,  p.  1  ;  conception,  p.  23  ;  form  of  mani- 
festation, ........ 

Goodness  of  God,  p.  261  ;  relation  to  proof  of  his  being,  p.  261  ;  difficul- 
ties in  judging,  p.  262  ;  proof  of,  laws,  p.  270  ;  happiness,  p.  271  ;  in- 
crease of  happiness,  p.  271 ;  hardships,  p.  272  ;  happiness  and  virtue, 
p.  273  ;  argument  grows,  p.  273  ;  men  love  mercy,  p.  274  ;  objections, 
suffering,  p.  275  ;  descent  of  evil,  p.  283  ;  carnivora,  p.  285  ;  parasites 

Gravity,  law  of,       . 

Growth,  the  one  explanatory  idea, 

Hamilton,  Sir  William, 

Hand, 

Heat,  diffusion  of,  . 

Huxley,         ..... 

Ideas,  appeal  to  intuitive,  p.  32  ;  spiritual, 

Imagination,  appeals  to,    . 

Immortality,  p.  1  ;  relation  to  natural  theology,  p.  288  ;  physical  consti 
tution,p.  289  ;  science,  p.  289  ;  spiritual  constitution,  p.  290  ;  inexhaust- 
ible, p.  291  ;  evolution,  p.  292  ;  law  unsuitable,  p.  293;  force  of  con- 
viction, p.  295  ;  rejection,  p.  296  ;  faith,  p.  297  ;  plan  of  God,  p.  298 
truthfulness  of  God,  p.  299  ;  love  of  God,  300;  communion  with  God 
pp.  300  ;  the  opposite  belief,  ..... 

Infinite, not  knowable,  p.  8  ;  a  negative  idea,  p.  13;  contradictory  idea 
p.  15,  16  ;  true  form  of,  .....  . 

Inheritance,  ..... 


33-  64 
43,  202 


3 
246 
43 
49 
161 
"3 


286 

95 
268 

I3i  x4 

203 

11S 

55 

97 

3i 


INDEX. 


limits  of, 


what  it  covers,  p.  160 ;  theories  of, 


,  i59 
light  and  plants, 


p.  16] 


16 


70 ;  eternity- 
order  p.  100 


Intellectual  development,  p.  205 

Instinct, 

Iron,  offices, 

Justice, 

Kepler,  laws  of, 

Knowledge,  relative, 

Language, 

Law  and  reason, 

Laws  of  thought,     . 

Leaf, 

Liberty, 

Life,  nature  of,  pp.  53 

its  dependencies, 
Light,  artificial,  p.  108  ; 

Mansel,  ....... 

Material,  kinds,        ...... 

Materialism,  ...... 

Mathematics  and  mind,      ..... 

Matter,  indestructible,  pp.  48,  49 ;  relation  to  mind,  pp.  65 

of,  p.  79  ;  active,  p.  98  ;  its  proportions,  p.  99  ;  seat  of 

indestructible,  p.  101  ;  eternal,  p.  102  ;  relation  to  mind 
Mind,  relation  to  matter,  pp.  65,  123  ;  gives  a  beginning,  p.  68  ;  interpreted 

by  experience,  p.  71  ;  gives  an  infinite,  p.  74  ;  precedence  of,  p 

constructive  force, 
Miracles,  pp.  193,  230,  232  ;  adverse  proof,  p.  234  ;  sustaining  proof 

service,  p.  242  ;  historical  presumption, 
Molecules,     , 
Monsters,      ..... 

Nature  of  God  .... 

Natural  and  supernatural, 

Natural  selection,  pp.  133,  136,  144;  final  causes, 

Nervous  system  and  mind, 

Nitro-glycerine, 

Number,        .... 

Oak-ball 

Orchids,         .... 
Organic  compounds,  p.  173  ;  powers 
Oxygen.         .... 

Paley,  .... 

Parasites  and  goodness  of  God, 

Pessimism, 

Philosophy,  cosmic, 

Philosophy,  relations  to  proof,     . 

Philosophy  of  history,  p.  250;  reference  to  physical  causes,  p.  25 

ments  in,  p.  251 ;  relations  to  proof 
Phyllotaxis, 
Plants,  insectivorous,  p.  149  ;  climbing,  p.  150;  ideas  involved 


305 

PAGE. 

212 

198 

114 

215,  267,  279 

95 
10 

206 

169 

60,  62 

i74 

199 
148 
17,  18 
"3 
195 


P-237 


ele 


83 

243 
88 
172 

7 

230,  231 

248 

197 

no 

87,98 

155 
140 
*95 
107 

64 
266 


130 
190 


259 

151 


306 


INDEX. 


Power  and  goodness  of  God, 

Proofs,  deductive,  p.  36  ;  inductive, 

Reason  and  law, 

Reasons  and  causes, 

Rational  life,  antecedent  conditions,  p.  199  ;  time  involved 

Resemblance  as  an  idea,    . 

Selection,  natural,   . 

Selection,  sexual,     . 

Social  development, 

Special  adaptations, 

Species,  .... 

Spencer,  H.,  the  unknowable,  pp.  8,  n,  12  ;  theory  of  life, 

Spiritual  development,  p.  211 ;    and  moral  law,  p.  214  ;  lines  of, 

relation  to  natural  selection, 
Sports,            ..... 
Suffering  in  world,  p.  275  ;  explanation, 
Sun,  action  on  life,  .... 
Supernatural,            .... 
Symmetry,                 .... 
Temperature  and  affinities, 
Theism,  pp  42,  44  ;  natural  theism, 
Theology,  natural,  p.  1  ;  methods  of  proof 
Thompson,  Sir  William,     . 
Time  and  plants,      .... 
Variation,  p.  134  ;  in  reference  to  man, 
Vegetable  kingdom,  proof  from,             . 
Wallace,  A.  R 


PAGE. 
269 

38 
l69 
193 
200 

86 

133 
182 
209 
77 
138,  146 
166 


J47 
278 
174 
229 
180 
107 
227 
2 
91 
151 
184 


■34 


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